


Two-Sided

by Remmy-AoT (Remembrance)



Series: Tentative Bliss [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Dom/sub, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Humor, Light BDSM, Prequel, Safe Sane and Consensual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-12 11:53:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 60,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1185922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remembrance/pseuds/Remmy-AoT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contribution to Femslash February, Ymir is exhausted by living two lives—one as a regular normal person and one as a lead member of the community of Doms and subs. One night, she finds herself down and out of luck. It's not until she stops by a run-down, seedy little bar that she considers dropping one of her sides entirely... just to find out that maybe she's not the only person living a double life. Having someone to relate to might be a good thing, after all... or it might reinforce some of the reasons why her life is shit. Takes place three months prior to Tentative Bliss; an independent fic in the same universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1: Sun (1)

**Author's Note:**

> So here it is~! The first chapter of my first femslash fic for Femslash February~! As the summary says, it is independent of Tentative Bliss, meaning if you don't read TB you will still understand everything.

* * *

 

It was a truth universally acknowledged, that people went to bars to get drunk. Bars were homes and shelters to the loud and the rowdy, the solemn and the depressed, the regular drinkers and the first timers. Bars were for getting drunk. Some people went to bars to meet friends and have a nice evening, but that was all along the fact that they were trying to get drunk together.  
  
Bars were for getting drunk.  
  
Ymir was at a bar.  
  
Ymir was not getting drunk.  
  
She swirled the little pink umbrella that came with her _virgin_ drink and watched the bright colours of blue and green mix and swirl together. She picked the miniature umbrella out of her drink, tossing it on the bar counter. She grabbed the glass, brought it to her lips. The sugary and fruity taste was disgusting.  
  
She wanted to get drunk.  
  
Very drunk.  
  
She was not getting drunk.  
  
Ymir took another sip of her drink, then chugged the rest. She placed the glass down on the counter, sober eyes glancing to the bartender. “Hey.”  
  
“Hey,” she called back.  
  
“I want another.”  
  
“Okay. On your tab?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
The bartender grabbed the glass.  
  
Ymir sighed, looking around the dusty wooden place. Everyone looked older than they were, slumped on chairs, around tables. Empty glasses everywhere, foamy cups. Some guy was sobbing in the corner, nobody cared. Everyone looked dead. The stool she was sitting on felt like its only purpose was to make her ass numb and everything else was shit. Ymir frowned. She placed both hands on her face, sighing into her palms. She didn’t want to be in a bar. She just wanted to get drunk.  
  
It was the sound of static that caught her attention.  
  
Ymir glanced sidelong to the stage at the other end of the room.  
  
There was a girl, late teens, maybe even twenty. She had long blonde hair with black tips. She wore a black leather top and a loose white skirt. Even though her skirt didn’t need one, she wore a belt, also black leather. She was short, even for a girl. She was adjusting a microphone stand while her band members set up their instruments.  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow. “Live music?”  
  
“Yeah,” the bartender replied, placing another virgin drink on the counter. “She’s a regular here.”  
  
“Really? Good for her.” Ymir shrugged, playing with the umbrella of her drink. “If that’s what a musician has to do to get paid.”  
  
“Oh, she doesn’t get paid.”  
  
Ymir looked up. “Then what’s she here for?”  
  
“Your guess is as good as mine. I think she just likes singing.”  
  
“Hm,” Ymir shrugged. She couldn’t pretend her interest wasn’t a little piqued, but that was probably because it was a shitty stupid bar and nothing else was happening. Ymir knew it was probably the lamest way to spend a Friday night, but if some short-ass blonde could make it a little more fun then why the fuck not, right?  
  
“Testing,” the blonde spoke into the mic. She instantly smiled, tapping the microphone twice just to make sure.  
  
Ymir glanced to her, noticing she had green eyes and probably way too much makeup around them. Racoon eyes, Ymir mentally noted. Ymir, herself, used to do that with her eyeshadow back when it was in style. She kept glancing to the girl on stage. Her smile was so sweet, it clashed with her makeup. Ymir looked back at her drink, shrugging because she didn’t really care. She sipped her drink, finding the fruitiness not as annoying as before.  
  
“Alright,” the blonde grinned. “Let’s get started.”  
  
The music began to play.  
  
It was soft, slow strums of the guitar, deep bass.  
  
Bar music.  
  
Ymir didn’t really care, until the singing kicked in.  
  
The voice was soft, feminine, and in many ways… almost angelic.  
  
Ymir swallowed hard, knowing whatever bitch was on the stage was far from angelic. That much makeup and singing in a run-down seedy little shit bar like this only meant she was a dead-end slut. Ymir sipped her drink, not sure why she was so open to attacking the chick. She kept glancing to the stage, and at one moment she swore her breath stopped.  
  
Krista made eye contact with her.  
  
Ymir half wondered if the chick had heard her inner thoughts, but eventually deemed it impossible, because, you know, mind reading was impossible. She sipped her drink, not taking her eyes off of the blonde’s, and the blonde kept staring back.  
  
She sung a slow song, almost serenading.  
  
Ymir felt her chest tighten and shifted in her stool so she could have a better glance at the stage. She wasn’t into chicks… at least she didn’t think she was into chicks (a few did catch her eye, but she never really had any interest in them).  
  
The song must have gone on for ages, and then she sung another one.  
  
All the while, Ymir was utterly fixated on her. Ymir just had to break eye contact for a moment to glance around the bar. For a small little shit hole in the wall, there was over a dozen people, mostly men, all of them staring at the singer… but the singer was only looking at her. Ymir suddenly wondered if they met before? But she knew there was no way this chick was familiar to her. “Why the fuck are you staring at me?” she whispered.  
  
The bartender overheard, but said nothing.  
  
The third song was a little more upbeat, but the fourth brought it down again.  
  
Ymir had three more virgin drinks in that time. She had to busy herself with something so she checked her wallet. She saw a couple twenties, so she was covered but she glanced over her shoulder to the barkeep. “You take debit, right?”  
  
“Yes we do.”  
  
“Awesome, one more then.”  
  
“Sure thing.”  
  
The fifth song.  
  
The sixth.  
  
All the while, Ymir’s eyes kept moving to the stage.  
  
And the singer’s eyes, never left her.  
  
Ymir silently wondered if she just got herself a stalker…  


 

⁂

  
  
Ymir was still drinking non-alcoholic drinks at the bar. She managed to loosen up a bit when the singer stopped playing and eventually began chatting up with the bartender, who she learned was named Mina. Mina Carolina. A stupid name for a bartender, but Ymir didn’t vocalise that thought. When she thought about it, Ymir was a stupid name for anything.  
  
Mina was washing a cup when her eyes looked past Ymir.  
  
Ymir glanced to the side, watching the blonde bitch sit up on the stool (she actually struggled a little bit because she was so short and it was adorable).  
  
Mina offered a smile. “What can I get you?”  
  
Krista moved some strands of blonde hair out of her eyes then shrugged. “Honestly? Just water. My throat’s pretty dry.” She chuckled.  
  
Mina smiled, nodding and moving to get her one.  
  
Krista glanced to Ymir, offering a small smile.  
  
Ymir did not smile back. Why would she smile back?  
  
“Hiya.”  
  
“Hey.”  
  
Krista laughed again; it was soft and light, airy. “What are you drinking?”  
  
Ymir looked to the brightly coloured thing and she shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s fruity, virgin. I can’t drink tonight, wish I could.”  
  
Krista smiled, green eyes shifting to Mina. A glass of ice water was placed in front of her and she offered thanks before taking a sip. “Ah,” she said, refreshed. “That’s nice.”  
  
Ymir just sipped her own drink, eyes glancing away.  
  
“So,” Krista glanced to Ymir.  
  
Ymir tried not to frown. She didn’t like how friendly this bitch was getting with her at all. “What?”  
  
“I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.”  
  
“I come here often, actually.” Ymir shrugged.  
  
Krista tilted her head, blonde hair shifting slightly with the movement. “Oh, so you probably come on weekdays.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess. Why? You only come on weekends?”  
  
“Mhm.” Krista nodded. “Only time I have, well, time.” She chuckled.  
  
Ymir snorted, not sure why a smile formed on her lips but she was smiling. She glanced to Krista, peering into those green eyes.  
  
“Krista,” Mina spoke up. “You have a way to get home tonight? You really shouldn’t be walking this late…”  
  
 _‘Christa,’_ Ymir made a mental note, wondering if it was short for Christine.  
  
“I’ll be fine,” Krista offered a smile. “I can defend myself.”  
  
“I know, but,” Mina frowned. “Downtown’s dangerous… Especially for someone like you. You got into a fight with three guys last time.”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow.  
  
Krista just shrugged. “And who won?”  
  
Mina sighed. “That’s not the point…”  
  
Ymir blinked, realising the little angel bitch sitting next to her was not an angel at all. “If you live around here, I can give you a ride.”  
  
Mina looked at Ymir, seeming nervous.  
  
Krista glanced to Ymir, an amused smile forming on her lips. “Well… I’m not supposed to get into a strangers car.”  
  
“It’s a motorcycle, actually.”  
  
“Oh?” Krista’s green eyes lit up. “Sure.”  


 

⁂

  
  
It was a short drive, only a couple blocks from the bar. Ymir stopped by a row of townhouses at the edge of downtown and Krista hopped off. Ymir half wanted to just drive off right then, but she watched as Krista took off her helmet, blonde hair swishing everywhere like a shampoo commercial.  
  
“Here,” Krista offered the helmet.  
  
Ymir was thankful she was still wearing hers, or Krista might have been able to see the heat on her cheeks. Which, realistically, wouldn’t have been an issue because of her darker skin and the fact that the only light was a streetlight several paces away.  
  
“Um…”  
  
“Sorry.” Ymir realised she was still and grabbed the helmet. She quickly stuffed it in the compartment under the bitch seat and glanced to Krista. She was about to say bye when she was cut off.  
  
“Hey,” Krista moved her arms behind her back, tilting her head to the side. She shifted her weight onto one leg and smiled. “Let me see you again, okay?”  
  
“Um… okay.” Ymir cringed, knowing she sounded like a fuck all moron.  
  
Krista’s smile turned to a grin. “Good. I sing on the weekends. Fridays and Saturdays mostly, sometimes Sundays if I can. Anyway, thanks.”  
  
“You’re welcome.”  
  
Krista nodded and turned around before walking up the steps. She rang the doorbell and waited.  
  
Ymir also waited, making sure the door opened and Krista went in before she drove off. She wasn’t going to leave a girl like that – even one that could defend herself – in the cold dark night; but, eventually, she drove off.  


 

⁂

  
  
Night turned to day, and sleep deprivation was still a ruthless cunt.  
  
Ymir woke up with a bad case of bed hair and no desire to fix it. She got out of bed, walking around her cold apartment alone. She opened the fridge door, yanked out the carton of eggs, then grabbed a pan. It wasn’t Tuesday, so she didn’t have to be a vegetarian. She put two pieces of bread in the toaster then cracked the eggs over the pan. Scrambling them quickly, she put them on a plate. Just in time, as the toaster popped the toast out.  
  
She shoved breakfast in her mouth like the inelegant not-a-morning-person animal she was.  
  
She threw the plate in the sink, turning on the water and giving it a quick rinse so it would be easier to clean later.  
  
Ymir sighed, moving to the kitchen counter. She grabbed a bottle of pills, antibiotics.  
  
“It’s these fucker’s fault.”  
  
Ymir read the label again.  
  
‘TAKE ONE A DAY WITH FOOD. DO NOT MIX WITH ALCOHOL.’  
  
Ymir frowned. “Of all the antibiotics they gave me, they _had_ to choose the one that couldn’t be mixed with drinks…” She half considered drinking anyway, just to spite her doctors, but then realised the only person she’d be screwing over would be herself.  
  
Getting a glass of water, she threw the pill in her mouth then swallowed it down with her drink.  
  
Her phone went off.  
  
She walked over to the kitchen table and grabbed it. She glanced at the Caller ID and rolled her eyes. Flicking the green button to the side to accept the call, she put her phone against her ear. “Fuck you, Kirstein.”  
  
 _“Hey don’t be so angry…”_  
  
“I can be angry all I want. What do you want?”  
  
 _“Geez… Chill. Would it be better if I just called back later?”_  
  
“No,” Ymir shrugged. “I’ll be pissed for a while, so just deal with me being pissed. It’s the best you’re going to get, Jean. So what the hell do you want?”  
  
Jean snorted at that. _“Well, Marco’s going on a trip overseas next month. Levi’s lending me Armin.”_  
  
“Wow.” Ymir rolled her eyes. “Your boyfriend’s leaving you for a bit so you find another one.”  
  
 _“No! It was Marco’s idea, actually…”_  
  
“Yeah, I can believe that I guess. You were so depressed when he left last time. How long is Marco going for anyway? He hasn’t told me anything.”  
  
 _“He’s going for… two weeks.”_  
  
“Two weeks?” Ymir laughed. “That’s all? Shit. You already sound depressed.”  
  
 _“Hey!”_  
  
“Sorry.” She wasn’t sorry. “Anyway… if he’s going overseas, why is he only going for two weeks? You’d think he’d want to do some travel, look at international fashion and all that shit, right?”  
  
 _“Well, actually he’s going for this big Euro fashion show thing. He said he might catch a couple deals, but he’s gotta come right back to finish his big project… or whatever. I really do listen but I don’t really understand half of what he says when it comes to clothes. Oh, and he said, if he wanted to go travel he’d take me along for a longer trip.”_  
  
“Awww,” Ymir cooed. “Your disgustingly cute and perfectly happy relationship aside, why the fuck are you calling me?”  
  
Jean laughed. _“Well I figured if you’re bored the three of us can fool around. You know, Armin, you and I. I think you’re the only chick Armin’s down for getting down with.”_  
  
“It’s because I know what he wants.”  
  
 _“Really? What’s that?”_  
  
“Utter domination.” Ymir snickered. “He’s a slave who wants to be a slave.”  
  
 _“Well yeah… Anyway, you’re single now, right? I heard that thing with your sub didn’t work out.”_  
  
“Nah, he was so tired of being dominated all the time… Makes me wonder why he approached a Dom as a sub in the first place.” Ymir rolled her eyes. “Well I guess I filled his fantasy. Anyway, yeah, I’m single. I’m down for it. I love that horrified expression Armin makes.”  
  
 _“Geez…”_  
  
“Well sorry, Jean,” Ymir smirked, “We can’t all be tender Doms like you.”  
  
 _“I’m not tender!—I’m just not on your level of freaky whips and chains…”_  
  
“Mhm.” Ymir fought back the urge to chuckle. “You’re tender with Marco and everyone knows it…”  
  
 _“Anyway,”_ Jean was more than happy to change the topic, _“It’ll be next month-ish? I’ll let you know.”_  
  
“Nah, no need. Honestly, just barge right in. I don’t care. Marco has a spare key to my place anyway.”  
  
 _“He does? Wow you two are kinda close. You know—Oh shit! Fuck! Shit! I’ll call you back, breakfast is burning!”_  
  
Ymir snorted, moving her hand away from her ear and using her thumb to hit the end call button. Well, at least there was something to look forward to. She smiled softly, glancing out the window.  
  
Armin…  
  
Christa…  
  
Ymir noticed they looked similar; maybe they were related? No, she shook her head, if Armin had relatives he wouldn’t have been with Levi. But they did look similar… but their eyes were different. In some ways, maybe Krista was kind of cuter, maybe to her at least.  
  
Ymir suddenly wondered what Krista would look like if she was being dominated…  
  
“No.” Ymir frowned. “Don’t do that.” She shook those thoughts out of her head.  
  
She glanced to the time, seeing it was still morning. In the evening, Krista would be playing at the bar… Was she going to go?  


 

⁂

  
  
It was the same run down shitty little wooden bar. Ymir didn’t know why she went back, but she might as well go for the entertainment. Mina was at the bar again, a little surprised to see her, but Ymir tried to be civil and offered a crooked smile. She ordered a virgin drink, waiting until Krista showed up. She wondered why she was so interested in the singer but it would probably pass. That’s how interest works, she knew. It starts off, then gets more exciting with each discovery; then, when there’s no more to discover, the interest slowly fades.  
  
It was only a matter of time until she was bored of this chick.  
  
Mina glanced to the stage.  
  
Ymir followed the gaze and ended up seeing her once again.  
  
This time Krista was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, white sneakers, and a loose white shirt that hung off one shoulder. She wore a black bra, which wasn’t seen through her shirt, but very noticeable over her shoulder.  
  
Ymir wondered if that was the point.  
  
The singing began.  
  
Krista’s green eyes shifted to Ymir as she sang.  
  
Ymir swallowed hard.  


 

⁂

  
  
They talked.  
  
Ymir found herself a little uncomfortable with Krista in the seat next to her, but also intrigued. She glanced over and offered a small smile. “So, why do you sing here anyway?”  
  
“I like it.” Krista moved some hair out of her eyes. “I think that’s the only way to explain it. I know no one I know will see me, and I don’t have to worry about having a stellar performance. It’s… casual, I guess.” She smiled.  
  
Ymir smiled back. “You don’t get paid, though?”  
  
“They offer,” Krista admitted, “But money’s not an issue for me.”  
  
“You’re well off?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Ymir swirled her straw in her drink. “I don’t wanna be rude or anything,” that was a first, “But you don’t live in the nicest part of town… I mean, those townhouses are pretty nice, but they’re not really where someone who is ‘well off’ would live.”  
  
“Ah,” Krista laughed a little nervously, scratching the back of her head. “Well, that’s actually a friend’s place. I stay there on the weekends. My parents have a strong hold on me during the week.”  
  
“Huh.” Ymir sipped her drink. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”  
  
“Eighteen.”  
  
“Twenty-five,” Ymir replied.  
  
“Wow,” Krista looked away, “I must just be a kid to you.”  
  
“Nah, you’re legal.”  
  
“I am…”  
  
Ymir suddenly paused, wondering if Krista just flirted with her. She eyed the blonde curiously.  
  
Krista just grinned.  
  
Ymir chuckled. “Let me buy you a drink.”  
  
“I like fruity stuff.”  
  
“Not a fan of hard drinks?”  
  
“No ma’am.”  
  
Ymir felt a little shudder tingle down her spine. Oh, she could get used to Krista calling her that… But it was obvious Krista was saying it in a different way than she was used to. “Hey, Mina. One tequila sunrise for the lady here.”  


 

⁂

  
  
The low hum of the motorcycle was the only sound in the quiet night. Ymir focused on the road, desperately trying not to focus on Krista’s slim arms around her waist. She could feel Krista’s body against her back; she could feel those slender thighs behind her, and she wondered what they would feel like wrapped around her waist. She could feel those subtle breast against her and Ymir swallowed hard, focusing on the road.  
  
She stopped in front of the same townhouse as last time and kicked down the stand.  
  
“Thanks.” Krista hopped off the bike and pulled off the helmet.  
  
This time, Ymir pulled hers off too. She rested her helmet in the lap, watching Krista put hers in the compartment.  
  
“Oh,” Krista pulled out a small slip of paper, “Here.”  
  
Ymir took it, noticing it was a napkin from the bar. It was a number. A phone number.  
  
“I’m Krista.”  
  
“Ymir.”  
  
“Sorry?”  
  
“Ymir,” she repeated as she looked at the napkin, “it’s my name.”  
  
“Ymir… I like that. Message me sometime, okay?”  
  
“Sure.” Ymir looked back up at Krista and froze as she felt a small hand caress her face then slip into her hair. With what little light there was, she could see Krista’s green eyes, a little tipsy, but focused. The next thing Ymir knew, she closed her eyes and felt two lips against hers. Soft. She barely breathed before the kiss was over.  
  
Krista smirked then turned around, skipping up the steps.  


 

⁂

  
  
Ymir closed the door of her appartment behind her. It was a small place, with only a couple of rooms. Cozy for one or two people, but it could get crowded too easily.  
  
She had the napkin in her hand but was too afraid to look at it. She placed it on the counter, realising she could leave it to tomorrow. It was late so she pulled off her jacket, threw her clothes along the ground and crashed in bed. She looked up at the ceiling of her bedroom and pursed her lips.  
  
Five minutes passed.  
  
She rolled over.  
  
Ten minutes passed.  
  
She rolled over.  
  
Fifteen minutes.  
  
She stared at the ceiling.  
  
Twenty minutes.  
  
Thirty.  
  
Forty-five.  
  
“Fuck,” she whispered.  
  
She couldn’t sleep.  
  
She got up again, angry with herself. She headed back into the kitchen. Her eyes locked on the napkin. She noticed it was ‘Krista’, with a ‘K’, and made a note of how stupid that was. The number was local, which wasn’t a surprise. She snatched the napkin and threw it in the trash. “There. Done. Fuck you too, Krista with a ‘K’.”  
  
She was not going back to the bar.  
  
She walked up to one of her cupboards and opened it up. She grabbed a yellow tin and popped the lid. She smelled the herbs, roses, camomile, lemongrass, lavender, hibiscus. It was a relaxing tea, easy way to force her restless body to get sleepy. She nodded, placing it down. She turned on the kettle, grabbed a teaspoon, then grabbed a tea filter bag. She put a teaspoon of the blend into the bag then threw the bag in a cup.  
  
The kettle clicked off, hot white steam rising.  
  
She poured, waited a couple minutes for it to steep, then pulled out the filter bag by the little string. She was about to throw it in the trash when she paused.  
  
There was the napkin.  
  
Krista.  
  
Krista with that pretentious ass K.  
  
“Who the fuck spells Krista with a ‘K’?”  
  
The garbage did not reply.  
  
“Fuck it.” Ymir tossed the bag in the trash, on purposely aiming for the napkin. Even if she had a change of heart, it would be too soaked to be legible in the morning.  
  
She was not going back to the bar.


	2. 2: Moon (1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo, chapter two~! Psst. Chapter title. Anywya, so it doesn't really matter since it's a tiny part of the chapter, but since I know a lot of my readers are American or British, I figure I'd just include this for ease of reading: 
> 
> 35 kilometers per hour would be 22 miles per hour.  
> 50 kilometers per hour would be 31.5 miles per hour.  
> 70 kilometers per hour would be 43.5 miles per hour.
> 
> Again, it's not really that big of a deal – I just figure it might give you a bit of perspective.

The water was warm and clean, crystal clear, but as it ran over her it became black and murky. The quick dye she used to make the tips of her blonde hair black washed off easily. She threaded her fingers through her hair, doing what she could to aid the process. She hummed, dancing from one foot another. She was muttering the words of a song she had sung that night. She opened her eyes and reached out, grabbing the metal shower knob, turning it slightly, making the water hotter. She shifted her shoulders, dancing along with the words. She continued to trail her fingers through the blond locks.  
  
It had been a week since she had kissed Ymir. That made it a week and one day since she met Ymir.  
  
Ymir never came back to the bar.  
  
Krista never got a call, never got a text. She was disappointed; and, while she _was_ trying to hide it, she had gotten comments all week about how snippy she was.  
  
“I should just give up,” Krista sighed.  
  
She gathered her long hair together, inspecting the tips to make sure all of the dye had washed off. Happy with her result, she grabbed the bottle of shampoo and popped the lid and smeared the bright pink substance-thing on her hand. She lathered it through her hair, then let it rinse out. She did the same with the conditioner, then sighed and turned off the water.  
  
She opened the shower door, whining a little as the cold breeze chilled her. She ran across the bathroom and yanked a towel, wrapping it around herself. Krista quickly dried herself off then rubbed the mirror, wiping off the fog.  
  
She saw her reflection.  
  
She had removed all her makeup before her shower and now her hair had turned to the simple blonde she had been born with. She was ‘all natural’ now. She looked different, younger.  
  
“Historia,” she sneered, rolling her eyes, hating the very word itself.  
  
Who the fuck named a girl Historia?  
  
She yanked the blow dryer and got to work, combing through the strands of thick hair to aid the process. Singing another tune to herself, it took some time and she considered getting her hair cut, but then decided against it. She had always just liked short hair. She paused, wondering if she could trim off a couple inches?  
  
“Hmm, maybe.”  
  
Krista put the blow dryer down then ran her hand through her hair one more time. She adjusted the towel, making sure it covered her breast, and opened the door.  
  
Feeling another cold breeze, she shivered and moved quickly. She stepped out into the living room—past Connie—and made her way to the guest room.  
  
Still sour over not getting a call or text, Krista pouted when Connie didn’t even turn around to steal a glance. She was practically naked! He should have at least peaked. Was she not pretty enough or something? Then again, when she actually thought about it, Connie had a nice body and all but he was like a brother to her. It would just be weird.  
  
She closed the door behind her with a quiet thump. She yanked off the towel and grabbed the comfort clothes that were neatly placed on the bed. She dressed quickly, and just in time as there was a knock on the door.  
  
“Hey, K-Face, you dressed?”  
  
“Yeah, you can come in.”  
  
Opening the door with one hand, Sasha had a bunch of French fries in her other one. She shoved one in her mouth, chewed, then swallowed before speaking. “We’re ordering food, you want?”  
  
“Sure!” Krista grinned, running a hand through her damp hair. “What kind?”  
  
“Pizza, probably, maybe, yeah probably.” Sasha nodded slowly. “I’m thinking… two laaarge pizzas! And a medium pizza. And chicken wings. Maybe some bread sticks. Probably some more fries too because I only have eight left. See?”  
  
Krista glanced at Sasha’s body. Instant jealousy for how thin she was, despite the monstrous eating, filled her. She had to remind herself that Sasha probably did more exercise than her and Connie combined though.  
  
“K?”  
  
“Oh, sorry—Honestly, that sounds great Sash. What kind of pizza?”  
  
“Hmmm…” She took a full second to ponder the very important question. “Probably… one large cheese pizza, because Connie is a boring dick-face.”  
  
“Sasha,” Connie called out, “I can hear you.”  
  
Sasha didn’t seem to mind. “Then the other large pizza should be all dressed, because that has all the toppings!” She did a little jump for joy, squeezing. “Then!” she shouted, “The third one is probably going to be…” She started drum rolling on the doorframe, “Poutine!”  
  
“Poutine…?” Krista tilted her head. “I thought you wanted a pizza?”  
  
“No, a _poutine pizza_.”  
  
“I’m sorry… what?”  
  
“A poutine pizza,” Sasha repeated. “It’s got meat gravy instead of tomato sauce and cheese curds on it and French fries—French fries! On the pizza!”  
  
Krista paused, then tilted her head. “But Sasha… why?”  
  
Sasha blinked. “What do you mean?”  
  
Connie laughed from the living room.  
  
Krista couldn’t help but chuckle as well. “That’s totally fine with me. Thank you, thank you so much. Please, let me pay for it.”  
  
“No way!”  
  
“Okay, fine, but at least let me pay for half.”  
  
“Nuh uh.”  
  
“A third?”  
  
“Nope!”  
  
Krista frowned, crossing her arms. “Sasha, you open your house to me every single weekend. You take care of me. You two feed me, and, just, everything!”  
  
Sasha stuffed another French fry in her mouth, clearly bored with the conversation. She turned around and spoke with her mouth full, “Connie!”  
  
“What?” he shouted back.  
  
“She’s doing that ‘let me pay’ thing again.”  
  
“Krista, no.”  
  
Krista tried her best to make a serious face, but she ended up chuckling. She puffed out her chest and stomped to the living room. Putting her hands on her hips, she gave Connie her death glare.  
  
Connie made a little ‘aww’ noise.  
  
Krista pouted. “Please?”  
  
“No way,” he looked back at the T.V., flipping the channel, “You’re our guest.”  
  
“Yeah,” Sasha agreed, “You’re… our… guest!”  
  
Connie frowned. “Sasha. Don’t.”  
  
“You’re our guest!” Sasha sang, “You’re our guest! Put our service to the test!”  
  
“Sasha!” Krista shouted, abruptly ending the _Beauty and the Beast_ rendition.  
  
“Krista,” Connie sighed, “Welcome to our humble abode. If you really want to help, then drink a coke or a sprite or something and help my fort.”  
  
Krista glanced to the two forts of (washed) soda cans. One of them was Sasha’s, one of them was Connie’s. Krista rolled her eyes.  
  
“Hey…” Sasha suddenly smirked. “If you want to help out… you could always… unload the dishwasher.”  
  
“Sasha!” Connie stood up. “You can’t just give her your chores!”  
  
“Well,” Sasha shrugged, “Got to keep her busy until the pizza guy gets here, right?”  
  


⁂

  
  
Thirty minutes later, the pizza guy delivered and Sasha paid. Krista got her revenge by slipping a twenty into her wallet when she wasn’t looking. Connie saw, but decided to pick his battles. He’d make it up to her later. The three of them lounged on the two couches in the living room, watching T.V.  
  
Sasha had quickly devoured the majority of the food, which was not a surprise to anyone, while Connie was eating at a steady pace. Krista was taking her time, enjoying herself. She enjoyed having the warm and gooey cheese pizza that was smooth and yummy and cheesy, as well as the all dressed which was covered in absolutely everything imaginable; however, her green eyes kept shifting to the disaster that was the poutine pizza.  
  
“Have some,” Sasha whispered in Krista’s ear. “You know you want it. You keep looking at it. It wants you too, Kristi. Potatoes are good for your soul. Shh, take one.”  
  
Krista realised Sasha’s seduction was actually working only after she had placed a slice on her plate. “I guess…” She had a mini staring contest with it.  
  
“Don’t worry,” Connie chuckled, “It’s not as bad as it looks, or sounds.”  
  
Krista grabbed the slice by the crust and tentatively brought it to her mouth. She nipped on the tip and chewed. She tilted her head, then realised she didn’t take a big enough bite to really taste it. She took a larger one, then chewed. Her eyebrows raised, then lowered, then knitted together, then shot up again. After much chewing and swallowing, she glanced at the plate. “Wow.”  
  
“And?” Sasha waited, poised in her seat and leaning forward.  
  
“That actually… wasn’t bad.” Krista looked at her pizza slice. “It sounded horrible, no offense… but I think I liked it? It’s weird not having tomato sauce as the pizza sauce, though.”  
  
Sasha gave a sage’s nod. “You must try new things, Krista.”  
  
“She’s right!” Connie wagged his finger in the air. “You gotta branch out and stuff.”  
  
Krista grinned. “I’m trying, mostly because of you two.”  
  
“That’s what friends are for!” Sasha shouted. She lunged forward, smooching Krista on the cheek.  
  
Connie quickly offered a tissue.  
  
Krista took it with a polite ‘thank you’ and cleaned her face of whatever sauce Sasha had smeared on her. She couldn’t help but laugh, though. “You two are honestly the best.”  
  
“Of course we are!” Sasha grinned, then crossed her legs. “Sooo… did that chick ever call you back?”  
  
“Oh, oh,” Connie snickered, “What did Krista call her? ‘Tall, dark, and beautiful’?”  
  
Krista’s cheeks instantly warmed and she looked away. “I-Is that what I said?”  
  
“Yeah, but to be fair it was after a couple drinks, but yeah tell us, did she call back?”  
  
“Nah… She hasn’t called.”  
  
“Aww.” Sasha deflated a bit. “I guess she wasn’t interested.”  
  
“Oh, she was interested,” Krista defended, “But I guess she just wasn’t _that_ interested.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Krista sighed.  
  
She was lying in the spare bed in the guest room. It was a small townhouse on the edge of downtown, two floors, very homey but still in the city. The sheets were soft and warm, everything was good. It was more than she could ask for.  
  
But she couldn’t help but frown a little.  
  
Krista knew she wasn’t being the most mature about everything, but…  
  
She really wanted Ymir to call.  
  
Frowning a little, she yanked the extra pillow and pressed it to her chest, arms wrapping around it. She hugged the pillow tight. That was when a noise caught her attention.  
  
A man’s chuckle, a woman’s gasp, and the creaking of a bed from the next room over.  
  
“Oh fuck, not this again,” Krista whispered to herself. To be fair, she knew Sasha and Connie were _trying_ to be quiet… and considering it was their place, they had every right to do what they wanted too… But did they have to fuck on the day she was having a little heartbreak over her tall, dark, drop dead gorgeous and beautiful? With those cute freckled cheeks that clashed with her dry attitude.  
  
“And her motorcycle,” Krista mumbled. “That gave her a bonus four sexy points… Oh well. Fuck her too, I guess.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Two days later, Krista found herself back in her own house. It was her house, but not her home. Everyone called it the ‘Reiss house’, and some people misinterpreted it as the ‘Rice house’. That always made her chuckle. But she was not chuckling then.  
  
The Reiss household was probably the one place she hated more than anyone else.  
  
When she was sixteen, she considered breaking the law just to go to jail for a bit.  
  
She could shave her head, look like a lesbian, get a criminal record, and not have to live in the shit-fucking house she was raised in. Krista only decided against it because of the money. When her old man croaked and her mother died off too, everything would go to her. Everything. She was set for life. Having no plans or wants for kids, she could just be a selfish cunt for the rest of her life once those two kicked the bucket.  
  
That day would be the first day she really smiled in the Reiss house.  
  
Today was not a day she smiled in the Reiss house.  
  
Her green eyes opened and instantly snapped shut. The blinding rays of sunshine smacked her face and she grumbled. She threw off the covers and slipped out of bed, stumbling a bit as she stood up. She slipped on a white skirt and a bright yellow shirt and checked the time.  
  
Six thirty.  
  
She had no reason to be up, but she had no reason to go back to bed either.  
  
Breakfast was usually at seven, so she figured she had some time to herself before the parental units of shit bothered her for the day.  
  
She stepped out of her room, making sure each step was as quiet as could be, and went down the stairs. She passed the kitchen and opened the sliding door to the patio. If it was six thirty, then… She walked over to the railing and leaned on it, waiting.  
  
Krista’s parents lived in North Crescent, an upper class elitist shitty municipality that she despised. It was filled with snobs and rich bastards, people who hosted large lavish parties and loved to look down on each other. She hated everyone from the neighbourhood.  
  
But there was one person that piqued her interest.  
  
She had never spoken to him, but she always wanted to.  
  
Krista’s green eyes glanced down to the street below. She had to wait a couple minutes before he came into view.  
  
A blond boy, running. He was short. Taller than her, but he was still short. He must have been around her age. He had a bowl cut that framed his face, and he had a thin physique.  
  
Krista watched him pass the house and continue on.  
  
Krista wasn’t the type of person who liked gossip, but occasional stories caught her attention from time to time. That boy apparently moved in with Rivaille, who lived all the way down the winding street. From what she knew of Rivaille, he owned the expensive clothing store – her favourite one – by the same name. The boy, however, was a mystery. He appeared a couple years ago and somehow avoided all the gossipy housewives and househusbands.  
  
The most popular rumour was that he was Levi Rivaille’s young lover.  
  
She hated the theories people came up with, but in such a boring life it was all she had to entertain herself.  
  
When the boy reached the end of the road, he turned around and started running the other direction.  
  
But he paused in front of the house.  
  
Krista blinked, realising the boy was staring at her. Now that he was still, she got a better view of him. Yeah, she nodded, he must be around her age. Maybe a year older? A year younger? Without really thinking of it, Krista offered a little wave.  
  
The blond grinned wide and waved back, before he went back to running.  
  
Krista smiled. She tilted her head ever so slightly. She wondered if he was lonely. Considering Krista, herself, had a hard time making friends with the neighbours, maybe that boy did too. Maybe she should–  
  
“Historia, dear?”  
  
Krista turned around. She saw a slightly taller woman with the same hair colour as her and she offered a polite smile. “Yes, Mother?”  
  
She crossed her arms. “You’re up rather early… Not planning on running away again, are you? I just can’t take my eye off you.”  
  
Krista kept the smile plastered on her face. “Of course not, Mother. There’s just no better place to enjoy the sunshine than our patio. It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?”  
  
“It is!” She nodded. “You know, when we were buying this patio set, let me tell you, they only came in brown and I said no way…”  
  
Krista tuned out.  
  
“Anyway!” Her mother said curtly. “Come help me make breakfast, will you? You have to be a little useful, don’t you think?”  
  
“I agree.”  
  
“Oh.” She paused. “Your father and I are going to dinner at Lolfa tonight.”  
  
Lolfa. Of course Krista knew Lolfa—everyone in the city knew Lolfa—it was _the_ place for anniversaries, birthdays, business parties, and so on and so forth. She had been there several times herself, so she waited patiently for some kind of invitation. Realising she was not going to get one, Krista only smiled again. “Okay Mother. I hope you and Father have a good time. You two work so hard, you really do deserve a night out.”  
  
“We do,” she agreed instantly. “Anyway, make sure you have some kind of dinner plans. You’re going to starve to death. You’re just a bunch of bones, no skin. You’re too skinny. I mean, really, who’s actually going to love you when you look like that? You’re short, too, so even if a man would want to get in bed with you—doubtful—he’ll never even notice you in the first place. If you don’t eat a bit, you’ll never marry in time.”  
  
“Yes, Mother.” Krista just nodded. “If you two are going out, can I have the car tonight? I don’t think we have groceries in the fridge.”  
  
Her mother just groaned. “Can you? I don’t know. _Can_ you? Did I raise a savage?”  
  
“I’m very sorry.” Krista dipped her head in respect. “May I borrow the car tonight?”  
  
“Yes, take mine. You know where the keys are. I’ll wake your father then you and he can make breakfast. I sure as hell am not going to. I do everything around here anyway!”  
  
Krista watched her mother leave. She waited until the patio door closed and turned around, calmly placing her fingers on the railing. She took a deep breath then her hands curled, gripping the metal to the point where her knuckles turned white. “Well fuck you too, _Mom_. Fuck you. Fuck everything!” She glared at the street. “Hey, Mom, _can_ you go fuck yourself? I don’t know. _Can_ you? May you go fuck yourself?”  
  
She yanked her arm back and slammed her fist on the railing. “I’m so tired of this shit!”  
  


⁂

  
  
A painful eleven hours later, Krista was in her bedroom on the third floor. She watched from her window as her father’s car pulled out of the driveway. “Come on,” she urged. She watched it drive away and disappear down the street. “Finally.”  
  
It was evening now.  
  
She walked down the stairs and moved to the front entrance. She yanked her mom’s car keys off the hook and tossed it in the air. It jingled and she caught it in a swipe. Finally. She shoved her feet in her white-laced summer heels and unlocked the door. She opened it and stepped outside, then locked it. She made sure she had her purse then walked down the many, many… many steps of the overly-prestigious Reiss family house.  
  
Eventually she got the bottom, a little out of breath, face flushed from the exercise.  
  
Krista clicked the button on the keys, unlocking the doors and she yanked it open before shoving herself in the driver’s seat. She had to adjust the seat, taking a couple seconds as the black leather chair rose. She slammed the door shut then revved up the engine. She threw her stuff on the passenger’s chair and plugged her phone into the stereo system.  
  
Hitting play, her face distorted. Disgusted by the happy bullshit music that came on, she hit the ‘next’ button on the steering wheel about eight times until the loud death metal screams filled the car.  
  
“Much better.” She smiled sweetly.  
  
Adjusted the gear to reverse, she looked at the screen above the stereo system to see what was behind her. She backed up, twisting the wheel as the car curved out of the driveway.  
  
The speed limit was fifty kilometers an hour, but there was an orange sign that recommended thirty-five because it was a tight residential area with a lot of winding turns.  
  
Krista calmly shifted the gear—then slammed on the gas.  
  
Seventy kilometers an hour it was.  
  
Because fuck it.  
  
“I want to go to Lolfa…” Krista almost ran over the warning sign and made a sharp turn, nearly drifting into a sixty year old man who was now screaming at her. She was happy that the car was mostly soundproof. She raged down the road, forgetting to signal as she turned left, almost causing an accident.  
  
The only time she stopped was at a crosswalk when a bunch of little kids were walking in a single file line in front of her car.  
  
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Krista rolled down her window and popped her head out. “I’ll squish you little runts!” She punched the wheel, blasting the horn.  
  
The kids scattered.  
  
She hit the gas.  
  
Ignoring the sound of screaming children, she did however flick her blue-green eyes to the rear-view mirror, making sure none of them with hurt. Satisfied with there being no casualties, her eyes locked on the road. Since she was no longer in a place that recommended thirty-five kilometers an hour, she figured eighty or ninety would be okay.  
  


⁂

  
  
It wasn’t surprising that Krista made it to the grocery store alive. She always was a good driver. It was a little surprising that nobody else got hurt, though—except two dumb-ass teenagers who were making out in the middle of the street, but they jumped into the bushes to avoid her road rage and she figured they deserved to be scraped by the thorns.  
  
Parking politely in the parking lot of the supermarket, she stepped out of the car, grabbed her purse, then slammed the door shut.  
  
She was pissed.  
  
Everything was shit.  
  
Krista growled as she stepped in the supermarket, yanking one of the baskets. She stomped down aisle four and noticed an old lady take the last of her favourite quinoa rice blend. She gasped and walked over. “Excuse you! I saw it first!” She grabbed it out of the granny’s hands, ignoring the yelp of surprise. She dropped it in her basket and moved to the produce section.  
  
She grabbed one of those plastic bags and began filling it with green beans.  
  
A worker approached her with a platter. “Excuse me, ma’am?”  
  
Krista’s head snapped to the side. “What the hell do you want?”  
  
The worker just screamed and ran away.  
  
Krista realised she missed out on free samples and pouted a little. She finished filling her bag then placed it in her basket. “Okay, I got rice, got veg… what else?”  
  
Well if her parents were going to Lolfa without her…  
  
“Steak.”  
  
Krista frowned as she charged down to the meat section. When she moved to the steak section of the display glass, there was some tall-ass woman talking on the phone in front of her. “Excuse me,” she said politely as she attempted to look around her.  
  
“Never met him,” the woman blabbed away, “I don’t have one.”  
  
“Excuse me, miss,” Krista spoke a little louder, “Could you move?”  
  
“Yeah, anytime.”  
  
Krista waited for her to move, then realised the woman wasn’t talking to her but the person on the other end. Krista scowled. She fucking hated tall people, with their damn height. “Miss, could you please move your big ass!”  
  
 _That_ got her attention, and she turned around.  
  
“Move bitch!”  
  
“What did you just call–?” The woman cut herself off.  
  
Her eyes widened. She froze.  
  
“Krista?”  
  
Krista smiled sweetly. “Ymir…”


	3. 3: Sun (2) & Moon (2)

_**Sun (2)**_  
  
  
Ymir tapped her nails, polished clear, on the wooden counter. She glanced to the clock—it was about five in the afternoon. She yawned a bit, cracking her neck both ways before looking around the store. Behind her were tins, hundreds of them, organised and colour coded. She did her best to look like she didn’t want to go home when a customer walked in.  
  
“Hi,” she smiled, “I’m looking for a black tea.”  
  
Ymir tilted her head, pretending to give a shit. “Are you looking for a straight black or a flavoured tea?”  
  
“Something flavoured, fruity.”  
  
Fruity. Black tea. Ymir turned around; there was so many blends that fit the bill. “Are you looking for loose leaves to take home, or just a cup?” She grabbed three tins and brought them to the counter before popping the lids.  
  
“Oh, just a cup, please.”  
  
Ymir kept that smile plastered on her face. “This one is packed with berries, it might be a bit too fruity.” She pushed the tin forward. “It has blueberries, acai berries, raspberries, and blackberries.”  
  
She leaned over and smelled it before shaking her head. “Yeah, too fruity.”  
  
Ymir pushed the second one forward. “This is our blueberry earl grey, as the name suggest it’s just earl grey with blueberries.”  
  
She did the same and then smiled, “This one’s nice.”  
  
“And this one,” Ymir pushed the third tin, “Is my personal favourite.” Lies. “I love having it in the evening.” More lies. “It’s also wonderful as a latte.” That one was true, though. “The black tea is blended with coconut flakes and raspberries, and it’s just a great tea.”  
  
The woman leaned over, took a smell, then her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, I’ll have this one.”  
  
Ymir smiled and closed the lids of the other two tins. She put them back in their places then turned back to the woman. “Did you want it just as tea or did you want to try a latte?”  
  
“Just a normal tea, please.”  
  
Ymir nodded, grabbing a tea filter and putting a teaspoon and a half of the blend inside. She pulled the strings, making the filter into a teabag and dropped it in a cup. “Would you like any milk or sweetener in it?”  
  
“Just a bit of milk.”  
  
“What kind of milk? We have soy, non-fat, two percent, homo.”  
  
“Non-fat.”  
  
Ymir nodded and approached the hot water tank. She pulled down the handle, watching the cup fill up. The smell of coconut and raspberries wafted up and she considered getting herself a cup of it too. She left enough room for a milk then quickly added the skim. She placed a lid over the cup then offered it, “Here you go. That’ll be two-fifty.”  
  
The woman took the cup and switched it with the exact change.  
  
“Thank you, have a wonderful day.”  
  
“You too!”  
  
Ymir smiled until the bitch turned around. She toyed with the register before dropping the change in the respective slots. She stared at the clock, realising only a couple minutes had past. She mentally begged time to move a little faster, but it didn’t reply since it didn’t have a mouth or vocal cords. She stared out, to the rest of the shopping mall and watched as a tentative blond stepped in. She instantly grinned. “Hey Fucker.”  
  
“H-Hey…”  
  
“Oh geez, Armin.” Ymir rolled her eyes. “Don’t go innocent with me.”  
  
“I’m not innocent!” Armin hugged his arm, slowly walking forward to the counter. “You just scare me.”  
  
“You enjoyed it!”  
  
“Yeah… I did…” Armin placed a smaller tin on the counter.  
  
Ymir swiped it, reading the label. “Oh the milk oolong? A refill? How much do you want, fifty grams? A hundred?”  
  
“Just to the top,” Armin shrugged. “Might as well.”  
  
“Levi’s got money to burn,” Ymir muttered, smirking a little. She grabbed the tin and brought it to the counter. “How is that shit-face anyway? I haven’t talked to him in a couple weeks now. Is he still looking for another sub?”  
  
“Uh, yeah,” Armin nodded. “A new one’s staying with us. I kind of like being his only one, but… I also know he wants more. He had four when I moved in with him, after all. Well… one slave, three subs, and another Dom living with him.”  
  
“Yeah…” Ymir frowned. She tried not to think about how much happier he was back then.  
  
“I walked in on so much sex,” Armin whispered.  
  
Ymir snorted. She scooped up the tea until the tin was filled. She weighed it and hummed. “A hundred and twenty four grams, comes to twenty-nine, seventy-six.”  
  
Armin handed over a card. “On debit, please.”  
  
Ymir glanced to the card before putting it into a machine. She hit debit then was prompted for a PIN. Her fingers quickly tapped four digits, and she looked up. “It’s still six-three-four-five, right?” The machine beeped and she smiled. “Yes it is.” She pulled out the card and offered it. “Want your receipt?”  
  
Armin took the card, eyes narrowing a little. “Yes please.”  
  
Ymir ripped the paper and handed it. “Going to show Levi?”  
  
“Well, I know he doesn’t care that much, but it is his money…”  
  
“Uhuh.” Ymir chuckled, “Want a bag?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
“So,” Ymir grabbed one of the small paper bags from under the counter, “How’s the new sub? Getting along okay?”  
  
“Um, yeah, I think.” Armin looked away. “He’s… you know, he’s okay. Nothing bad about him. I feel… a little, uncomfortable around him, a little, sort of.”  
  
Ymir paused.  
  
“It’s not a bad thing,” Armin quickly defended. “I just get a bit of a weird vibe from him, not a bad one or anything…”  
  
“Tell Levi.”  
  
“Ymir…”  
  
“Tell, him.”  
  
“It’s only been four days,” Armin took the bag and forced a smile. “It’s too early to judge.”  
  
Ymir pursed her lips. Her mini staring contest with Armin took a couple seconds, but her eyes flicked to the next customer who just walked in. “Well, if you say so. I’ll trust your judgement.”  
  
“Okay.” Armin smiled and nodded. “I’ll see you around.”  
  
“Yeah,” she offered a wave, then looked at her next customer. “What can I get for you?”  
  


⁂

  
  
She had put on her leather jacket and zipped up. Their city never really got winter cold, but it was a little chilly. She slipped a cigarette between her teeth and fumbled for her lighter. She flicked the gear and a spark turned to a warm fire. She brought the heat to the end of her cig and sucked in twice. When the end was burnt, she closed her lighter and stuffed it in her pocket.  
  
“Thought you were going to quit?”  
  
Ymir chuckled, looking forward as she took a drag of the cig then let the hot grey cloud spill from her lips. “Eh.”  
  
Annie moved some hair out of her eyes and stood next to her. “Here, let me help. Give me one.”  
  
Ymir chuckled. She grabbed her cig between her two fingers and moved it out of her mouth. “If you want to just bum one off me, just ask.”  
  
Annie shrugged.  
  
Ymir reached in her pocket, pulling out her lighter and her pack of cigarettes in the same hand. “Here.”  
  
“Thanks.” Annie quickly lit herself one and sighed. “Fuck. I skipped one this morning because Levi was coming in. You know how he gets. He can smell a tiny speck of smoke miles away.”  
  
Ymir chuckled, taking another drag and letting it out. “Yeah. I do the same when I know he’s around. Good for him, though. He quit. One day I will too.”  
  
“Hopefully me too,” Annie shrugged. “Mikasa wants me to but…” She shrugged a second time.  
  
“I feel you on that.” Ymir paused, looking down to her boots. “I think I’m gonna give Levi a call actually. He just left Rivaille?”  
  
“Yeah, ten-ish minutes ago? He came by with Armin and the new sub, but he disappeared fast—Armin, I mean. He didn’t even give me a proper hey.”  
  
Ymir thought about it and her eyes narrowed. She watched a car drive by then looked to Annie. “Armin stopped by the tea store. He wasn’t in a rush though, looked like he was taking his time.”  
  
Annie let out another hot cloud and nodded. She was catching on. “Something up?”  
  
“Well, Armin said his new sub makes him feel uncomfortable.”  
  
Annie flicked the end of her cigarette, letting the burnt ash fall off. The new end of her cigarette flared red before she brought it back to her mouth.  
  
Ymir didn’t say anything.  
  
Annie took another breath before sighing. “He kind of made me feel odd too. He’s not bad or evil or anything like that… I don’t know, he’s sort of very… I don’t know.” She tensed a bit, then shrugged.  
  
“Huh.” Ymir looked up for a bit. “I don’t know anything about the guy, but if both you and Arm’ are getting bad vibes…”  
  
“Hmm.” Annie glanced to Ymir. “Might be jumping the gun, though, right?”  
  
“Well, I’m not gonna tell Levi to throw him out,” Ymir snickered. “I’m just going to mention that maybe something’s wrong. It might not even be the sub’s fault. He could just be overwhelmed or maybe he’s seeing as a competition of some kind. I don’t know where the sub comes from, but living with Levi and his huge ass house can probably make some people act different just because they don’t know what they’re supposed to do.”  
  
“Hm.” Annie frowned. “I didn’t think of it that way.”  
  
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Ymir chuckled. “You’re a sub, I’m just used to Dom stuff. All I’m saying is, if there’s a problem then we should let Levi know. He’ll handle it the right way, I don’t think either of us have to worry about that. It’s Levi, after all.”  
  
“No wonder Mikasa goes to you for advice.” Annie snickered. “You’re like big sister Ymir.”  
  
“Ew, no, stop that.” Ymir made a disgusting face. “I’ve just been in the community for a while. I like helping out if it’s not too much work.”  
  
“Well, you and Levi both have a weird way of looking at problems I guess.” She dropped her cigarette, crushing it with the tip of her shoe.  
  
Ymir did the same with the heel of her boots and chuckled.  
  
Annie checked her phone then sighed. “Shit, I gotta go back.”  
  
“You’re still on?”  
  
“Another three hours, you?”  
  
“I just got off.” Ymir laughed. “Good luck.”  
  
“Thanks.” Annie pouted. “Anyway, you gonna give Levi a call?”  
  
“Mhm. I might wait a bit first. If they left not that long ago, Armin should be cooking dinner so I have time.”  
  
“Shit.” Annie glanced at her phone again. “I need to remind Mikasa to tell Eren to get some.”  
  
“Eren?”  
  
“Our roommate.”  
  
“Oh, right. You told me about him.”  
  
“Mhm.” Annie nodded. “He’s getting into D.s., but not really in the community yet. Anyway, I gotta make a call and head back. I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess… if you’re working?”  
  
“Right next door,” Ymir offered a grin.  
  
Annie tried to hide her smile as she turned around.  
  
“Hmm.” Ymir paused, tilting her head. “I need food too, shit. Got nothing at home…”  
  


⁂

  
  
Ymir grabbed one of the small bright green baskets as she stepped in the grocery store. She pulled out her phone and went through her contacts. Stopping under ‘R’, she found Levi and hit call. She brought the phone to her ear. She heard the dull ring and waited.  
  
 _“Hello?”_  
  
“Yo, Lee.”  
  
 _“Don’t call me that.”_  
  
Ymir snickered. “Okay. Levi, Sir, is that better?”  
  
Levi made an amused sound. “ _Much. What the fuck do you want, Ymir?”_  
  
“Nothing, just sort of wanted to give you a heads up.” She walked around the grocery store, glancing for anything that cried ‘eat me tonight’. “Armin stopped by the store. He just kinda mentioned something that kinda had little alarm bells go off for me.”  
  
 _“I see… Is that so?”_  
  
“Mhm.” Ymir glanced and noticed the steaks. She made an ‘ooo’ noise then remember she was on the phone. “Sorry. Armin said he feels a little uncomfortable around him.” Levi didn’t reply, so Ymir glanced at the price tags through the display glass. “We both know how Armin is, right? So I got a little worried. I talked to Annie earlier, ran into her on my way out, she said she felt a weird vibe too.”  
  
“Excuse me,” a polite voice came from behind her.  
  
 _“And… if I may ask, Ymir, what exactly is your opinion on him?”_  
  
“Well,” Ymir ignored the voice behind her and focused on Levi, “I never met him, I don’t have one.”  
  
“Excuse me, miss,” the voice from behind her was a little louder, “Could you move?”  
  
 _“Alright. Well, thank you.”_  
  
“Yeah,” Ymir nodded, “Anytime.”  
  
 _“As usual, drop by whenever. I’ll talk to Armin about this for now. See you later.”_  
  
Ymir closed her phone and smiled.  
  
“Miss, could you please move your big ass!?”  
  
Ymir’s brows knitted together and she turned around.  
  
“Move bitch!”  
  
“What did you just call–?” Ymir cut herself off, eyes widening. “Krista?”  
  
Standing in front of her was a short blonde with long hair; she wasn’t wearing the heavy makeup and her hair wasn’t dyed at the tips, but she was unmistakable as she smiled sweetly. “Ymir…”  
  
Ymir’s jaw tensed. She stared at the little thing before her and tilted her head. “Shit… You’re mad.”  
  
“I’m, I’m,” Krista’s face burned, “I’m sorry!”  
  
Ymir blinked. “Having a bad day?”  
  
“Oh, uh, yeah…” Krista gave a tentative nod. “Yeah…”  
  
Ymir smiled softly. “Wanna talk?”  
  
“Nah…” Krista shook her head, blonde hair shifting with the movement. “It’s just the usual parental bullshit.” She suddenly slapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”  
  
Ymir chuckled, moving one hand back to rub her neck. “It’s okay. I can handle the word bullshit.”  
  
Krista smiled, but her smile soon faltered, and she frowned, looking away. “You… never called.”  
  
“Yeah…” Ymir also looked away. “I… I never did…”  
  
Krista pouted. “Why not?” She looked up. “Sorry… I shouldn’t pry, you have your own life.”  
  
“No, it’s cool.” Ymir took a deep breath. “Well, I, I didn’t call because… You know what? Fuck it, I’ll just be honest with you. I was afraid.”  
  
“Afraid?” Krista tilted her head and stared. “I scared you?”  
  
Ymir cackled again, not caring about the looks she got from other customers. “Nah, a small thing like you won’t scare me off… I was, well, I was sort of more afraid because I’ve just never dated a girl before. Well, that and…” She wasn’t used to normal relationships—She was used to Dominance and submission. She didn’t vocalise that bit, though.  
  


⁂

  
  
_**Moon (2)**_  
  
  
“I was, well, I was sort of more afraid because I’ve just never dated a girl before. Well, that and…”  
  
Krista waited for Ymir to finish her sentence, but realised there was nothing else coming. She offered a smile. “Oh, I see. I understand.”  
  
Ymir’s brows shot up. “Huh? You do?”  
  
Krista nodded. “I went through a time I was convinced I was straight, then I was convinced I was a lesbian, then I was straight again, then bi, then a lesbian, then pansexual, and then back to bisexual, which I actually am, for good… hopefully.”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “Well, I never had to deal with this kinda stuff until now. I mean most of my friends are fags, I love ‘em all, but never went through it myself. I’m, kinda curious though… How did you know you were bi and not pan?”  
  
Krista laughed, moving some blonde hair out of her face. She did not expect to have this conversation of all conversations, she didn’t expect it to have it with Ymir, and definitely not in a grocery store. “Well, from what I understand—and it’s really complicated, so maybe I’m wrong—Pan is sort of like being gender blind. Whereas bi is sort of like, gender… sort of matters, but it’s not a turn on or a turn off. Some people just give of a kind of male energy, and some people give off a female energy, they’re different, but they both interest you.”  
  
“Female energy?” Ymir raised an eyebrow. “From their crotch?”  
  
Krista laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. “N-No, I guess it’s like… I had a friend who was born a guy but identified as female.”  
  
“Transgender, yeah, I know the terminology.”  
  
Krista grinned; that would make the whole conversation easier. “So, yeah, she always gave off a female energy. Even before she came out, I was attracted to her in my lesbian phase. Sort of. I was really confused by her.”  
  
“So…” Ymir thought about it, tilting her head. “Okay but what if someone’s not a guy or a girl, gender-wise.”  
  
“Well, they give off their own energy too. It’s not male or female, but it’s what they are.” Krista shrugged. “It’s not really that complicated though. I mean, it’s not like bisexual people won’t fall in love with someone who’s genderqueer or something: We will, it’s just that their gender—whatever it might be—is like… I don’t know. I guess it’s like, we’re not gender blind really.”  
  
“Huh. Confusing.” Ymir frowned. “I kind of liked being straight. It was simple.”  
  
Krista chuckled, “Sorry.”  
  
Ymir smirked. “So, you’re bi then?”  
  
“Yep, and… you?”  
  
“Straight… maybe… I don’t know.”  
  
Krista glanced to her basket, then glanced to Ymir’s. “How about… you come over tonight?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Don’t worry, not like that. Totally innocent. I just figure I could make you dinner or something.”  
  
Ymir glanced to her basket and saw nothing was inside. “Well, sure… I mean, it’s not a problem, or anything, right?”  
  
“Nope. My parents are going out tonight, and the house is too big to be alone in.”  
  
Ymir thought about it then shrugged. “Sure. You have a car?”  
  
“Yeah.” Krista nodded, “Did you want to follow me on your motorcycle?”  
  
“Nah, I didn’t bring it. I walk to work since it’s like ten minutes. I use it if I’m late or something, but yeah.”  
  
Krista grinned, “Then follow me.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Ymir seemed surprised when Krista poured her a glass of red and quickly got to work, cooking the meal. The steaks were salted and left to reach room temperature as she washed the quinoa rice blend before putting it in boiling water. She moved quickly, washing the beans as well.  
  
“So, Krista… You sure you don’t want any help?”  
  
“I got it.” Krista grinned, quickly turning on her heel to chop the beans. “Just make yourself comfortable.”  
  
Ymir was sitting on a high stool, leaning on the island counter in the kitchen. Her glass of red was nice, tart—not sweet like the crap Marco drank. She swirled the rich red in her cup and watched.  
  
Krista dashed a bit of coconut oil onto a pan and waited until the oil smoked. She dropped the steaks and the kitchen exploded with a quick flash of fire and the sound of million crackles.  
  
Ymir jumped back a bit, but noticed Krista being calm as could be.  
  
Krista hummed, counting the seconds before flipping the steaks. She glanced over her shoulder. “How do you like yours done?”  
  
“Rare, medium rare,” Ymir shrugged.  
  
Krista grinned. “Me too. My parents like it well done, but I think it’s just a waste of a steak.”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “You can say that again. If it’s good meat you should at least go for medium well, if not medium.”  
  
“Mhm.” Krista lowered the heat, watching the dancing blue fire of the gas burner shrink. It was now at a simmer and she put her spatula down. She grabbed another spatula and stirred the rice. The water was mostly being evaporated or absorbed so it wouldn’t take long.  
  
“So…” Ymir looked around, “I’m just curious. If you live in this nice place, why do you go downtown on weekends?”  
  
“I’m just, not a fan of this neighbourhood.” Krista bit her lip. “High society bullshit. We’re in the twenty-first century and they’re convinced there needs to be the class division of the eighteen hundreds.”  
  
“Wow.” Ymir sipped her drink. “So, North Crescent’s exactly what they say it is, huh?”  
  
“Well, it’s not _that_ bad. Majority of people here work throughout the day, so there’s only the gossipy housewives and husbands and sisters, brothers, whatever left. They are the few—my parents included—that ruin the name for the rest of us.”  
  
Ymir thought about it before giving a nod. “Yeah, I have a friend who lives here, just down the road actually.”  
  
Krista grabbed to plates and scooped the steaks onto them. “Oh?” She put the green beans as well. “I might know them?”  
  
“Levi Rivaille.”  
  
“Oh, the short angry guy?”  
  
Ymir snorted. “Yeah, that’s him.”  
  
“He’s got a kid staying with him… Well, no, not a kid, he’s around my age.” She scooped up the rice and then placed the two plates on the counter. She grabbed a set of cutlery for each of them and placed it on the table. “He’s a kid in comparison to Rivaille, though.”  
  
Ymir didn’t reply.  
  
“Um… Ymir?”  
  
“Huh?” Ymir looked up, then down at her plate. “Oh, wow, this looks great. Yeah,” she grabbed a fork in one hand a knife in the other, “Armin. That’s his name. You know him?”  
  
“No…” Krista slowly cut a slice off of her steak. “But he runs every morning, or well five days a week I think it is. He runs by the place. I see him on the patio.” She took a bite, nodding appreciatively.  
  
“Yeah, he’s a cutie.” Ymir brought a piece of steak in her mouth, then her eyes widened. “OhmahGah’d.” Realising she spoke with her mouth full, she brought a hand up to her face to cover. “Sorry.”  
  
Krista just snickered, taking it as a compliment.  
  
After chewing and swallowing, Ymir moved her hand away. “Sorry, what were we talking about? I didn’t know steaks could be this good on a pan.”  
  
Krista swallowed a mouthful of rice and smiled. “We were talking about how Armin was a cutie. So, you like blonds?”  
  
Ymir’s eyes narrowed. “What happened to totally innocent?”  
  
“It’s just… totally innocent flirting.”  
  
“You are a Grade A little shit.” Ymir pointed at her with her fork before chuckling. “Just like Armin I guess.”  
  
Krista ate a couple green beans then tilted her head. “You never answered.”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Do you like blonds?”  
  
“Well,” Ymir shrugged, “I like blondes, and brunettes and redheads.”  
  
Krista sipped from her glass, liking the way the red wine paired with the meat. “That’s good. I’ve actually been thinking about dyeing my hair, if my mother lets me.”  
  
“Ohhh. I see. So that’s why you go to your friends. You get yourself all, make-up-up’d, and you put the black in your hair, parents would spank you if they found out.”  
  
Krista chuckled, but nodded. “Yep. My friends say it’s my little rebel phase, which is probably pretty accurate.”  
  
“You pull it off well,” Ymir nodded. “Your bar singer look, rebel phase thing, whatever.”  
  
“Thank you.” Krista grinned, “Go big or go home right?”  
  
“Definitely.” Ymir took another bite of her steak and tried not to look indecent while having an orgasm. “Hm, well. I had pretty easy parents myself. My mom’s a total dork, dad just loves kids… My sis is a bit of a bitch, but she means well.”  
  
“Oh… that sounds nice.”  
  
“S-Sorry…”  
  
“No! No!” Krista smiled, “It’s okay. I’m curious now, tell me about them.”  
  
“Um, sure…” Ymir shrugged. “My parents were immigrants, didn’t speak a word when they got here. My dad’s a teacher now, elementary school, his accent’s gone. My mom’s a manager at a little dep store. They’re both nothing that special.”  
  
“And your sister?”  
  
“Well,” Ymir rolled her eyes, “Little Miss Archeologist. She’s published like four papers now? She’s also Little Miss make a huge-ass shadow on your younger sister.”  
  
Krista couldn’t help but laugh. “And what about you? What do you do?”  
  
“I work at a tea store. It’s nothing special. I’m assistant manager, but only because I managed to get a deal going with Rivaille, which is next door, when we had bad business.”  
  
“Oh.” Krista blinked. “The tea store next to Rivaille? I know it. I’ve never been inside, but I wanted to.”  
  
“Well stop by and I’ll give you a free cup of tea. How romantic, no?”  
  
Krista laughed, louder than she wanted to and ended up covering her mouth with her hand.  
  
Ymir smirked.  
  
“It sounds nice, working at a tea place.”  
  
“Does it?”  
  
“Yeah,” Krista nodded. “I’m not doing anything, really… Besides bar singing.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“I… don’t really know. I have the grades if I want to study, but I don’t know. My parents are fine with me doing nothing, they say I’m eighteen so it’s okay to lounge around a bit. I’ve thought about studying abroad, but that’s mostly just to get away… I don’t think it’d be a good idea though.”  
  
Ymir nodded. “You’d have no motivation to study if you went?”  
  
“Yeah.” Krista cocked her head to the side. “How did you know?”  
  
“When my sis finished her undergrad, she went to study overseas. She had a job and was paying for most of it, but our parents also put money down ‘cause that shit was expensive. It paid off, now. But my parents told her, ‘Ilse, if we’re paying this much you better whip your own ass and get a good grade. We’re expecting a high GPA’.”  
  
Krista laughed again, moving some hair out of her eyes. “That’s exactly what my parents said.”  
  
“Well, cheers,” she raised her glass. “We can relate.”  
  
“Cheers.” Krista tapped her glass against Ymir’s and then took a sip. She was about to speak again when the far off sound of a door unlocking caught their attention. She made a face before forcing her features to be neutral.  
  
Her mother walked in, offering a smile to Ymir before looking to Krista. “Hello, dear.”  
  
“Hello Mother,” Krista smiled a fake one. “I invited a friend over for dinner.”  
  
She just nodded. “That’s fine. Just clean the kitchen, Julia’s coming over at noon tomorrow and you know what a woman she is—If she sees our house like this she’ll tell Jared, and everyone will know. Oh, and you have your appointment at one. Miss it and you’re on the streets.”  
  
“Yes, Mother…”  
  
She walked off.  
  
Ymir sipped her wine and looked at Krista. “Well, that was friendly.”  
  
Krista gave a small nod. “And now you see why I wanted to study abroad?”  
  
Ymir snorted. “Yeesh, yeah.”


	4. 4: Sun (3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, good news, I've actually fully planned out this fic. I don't usually do that, so it's nice having a rough draft/outline to work with. Expect more updates soon and quickly~!
> 
> * * *

They exchanged phone numbers and Ymir promised to actually put Krista in her phone this time. She felt guilty about throwing away the napkin, but Krista just gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her it was fine. As much as Ymir didn’t want to admit it, her cheeks began to warm and she couldn’t stop smiling. Even though it had been three days, she still couldn’t stop smiling.  
  
“So it’s just been a pain,” Annie explained as she leaned against the wooden counter.  
  
Marco bit his lip. “Sounds rough.”  
  
Annie shrugged. “The job’s the job. It won’t last long.”  
  
Mikasa didn’t say anything, but it was obvious she was a little worried.  
  
Ymir was only half listening to the conversation. Her eyes were mostly focused on the tea she was steeping for them. They were at the tea shop; the three of them stopped by to say hey and get a cup before they went off. As much as Ymir pretended to be a total cunt, she actually liked it when her friends dropped by. It livened her day up a bit and kept her away from the bullshit train that went choo-choo throughout her life.  
  
“You can’t ask Levi to do something?” Marco tilted his head.  
  
“I could,” Annie admitted, “But he’s got enough on his plate right now.”  
  
Ymir opened her mouth to say something, but her phone went off. She frowned and reached in her pocket. She grabbed her phone and checked the Caller I.D.  
  
Krista.  
  
Ymir realised she had no idea what the chick’s last name was and made a mental note to ask her later. She slid her thumb along the green bar and put her phone to her ear. “Hey?”  
  
 _“Hey, it’s me. Your girlfriend.”_  
  
Ymir instantly chuckled. “Is that so?”  
  
 _“Mhm! I’m free tomorrow if you are?”_  
  
“What day is tomorrow?”  
  
 _“Thursday.”_  
  
“Yeah, I’m free,” she nodded. She could feel three pairs of eyes giving her a curious look and she frowned at them.  
  
 _“Take me out on a date.”_  
  
Ymir blinked. “A date?”  
  
Annie, Mikasa, and Marco all simultaneously leaned in.  
  
 _“Yeah, I cooked dinner for you on Monday, that was our first date, so now you’re going to take me on a second date.”_  
  
“That wasn’t a date!” Ymir frowned, then thought about it. “Wait, was it?”  
  
 _“Yep!”_  
  
“Says who?”  
  
 _“Says me!”_  
  
Ymir couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine, you cunt. Alright, do you mind if I pick you up?”  
  
 _“Sure! I’ll be ready around six.”_  
  
Ymir pursed her lips. “Could we make it seven? I gotta close shop on Thurs.”  
  
 _“Works for me!”_  
  
“Cool.” Ymir nodded. “So, uh, any time you gotta be home by?”  
  
 _“Uh, well, nothing past like three in the morning, so not really.”_  
  
“Plenty of time,” Ymir smiled.  
  
 _“Mhm. My meal was pretty good – if I may say so myself – so you better take me somewhere nice, Ymir.”_  
  
“Is that so?” Ymir’s jaw twitched. “You’re one hell of a forward bitch.”  
  
 _“Well, I think I have to be. You’ll end up disappearing if I don’t.”_  
  
Ymir paused before another chuckle left her lips. “Okay. Fair enough. You got me there. And uh… thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow?”  
  
 _“Yes Ma’am.”_  
  
Ymir felt a little thrill run down her spine. “See ya.” She moved the phone away from her ear and hit end call. She chuckled and smiled to herself. It was only when she glanced to the side that she remembered she had customers. The interested looks made her drop her face, pretending to be the angry cunt she always pretended to be. “Ah fuck,” she looked to the sides. “I over-steeped your teas. Is it cool if I make them lattes? It’ll cut the bitterness.”  
  
Mikasa nodded. “That would be fine.”  
  
“Of course,” Marco smiled wide.  
  
“I don’t mind it how it is,” Annie said simply. “You could add a bit of sweetener maybe.”  
  
Ymir nodded and opened the small fridge below the counter. “Skim fine?” She looked at Marco and Mikasa and was given two nods. She poured the milk into a little metal cup and got to heating it up with a steamer.  
  
“So…” Annie glanced at her.  
  
Marco was grinning like a school boy, beaming with interest.  
  
Mikasa, however, was fairly expressionless. Even so, a tiny bit of curiosity gleamed in her eyes.  
  
Ymir realised she poured too much milk but figured it wasn’t an issue; she could make herself a latte if she wanted. Set to high power, the milk didn’t take too long to heat up. She poured the milk into Mikasa’s cup.  
  
“A date?” Annie asked.  
  
“It’s nothing,” Ymir insisted.  
  
Annie leaned on the counter. “I don’t think so.”  
  
Ymir said nothing as she poured the milk into Marco’s drink.  
  
“Come on,” Annie insisted, “Spill it.”  
  
Ymir flashed a dangerous look to Annie before pouring milk in Annie’s cup as well.  
  
Annie cringed. “Hey…”  
  
Mikasa laughed, quickly bringing a hand up to cover her chuckle.  
  
Annie slapped her arm.  
  
Mikasa raised an eyebrow. “You deserved it.”  
  
Annie frowned. “How?”  
  
“Don’t pry.” She turned to Marco. “You too.”  
  
Marco sighed. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I was just a bit curious… Come on, Ymir, we’ve known each other for years—I don’t think you’ve gone on a date with anyone in… Geez, since eighth grade?”  
  
Ymir paused, realising that was true. She put the cup down and then put lids on the lattes. “It’s just a little fling, nothing more.”  
  
Annie bit her lip. “So… what’s his name?”  
  
“Um…” Ymir frowned. “Uh, well… Kris?”  
  
“Chris?” Marco tilted his head. “I don’t know any subs named Chris.”  
  
“Uh, yeah, Kris, with a ‘K’.”  
  
Annie tilted her head. “With a ‘K’?”  
  
Mikasa blinked. “Who spells it with a ‘K’?”  
  
Marco chuckled. “I still don’t know any Krises in the community, but have fun, okay?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah,” Ymir rolled her eyes. “Just get the fuck out.”  
  
Marco laughed, Annie snickered, and Mikasa smiled but the three of them eventually left.  
  
Ymir leaned on the counter and the corner of her mouth curved upwards into a smirk. “A date, huh?”

  
⁂

  
  
Ymir had been wearing her leather jacket and dark jeans as she drove over the red bridge to North Crescent, helmet strapped tightly on. She barely felt the vibrations of her motorcycle since she was so used to it. She was used to driving this way whenever she wanted to bug Levi, so it didn’t take her long to reach the Reiss house. She kicked down her foot stand and pulled out her phone. She sent a quick text.  
  
It didn’t take Krista long.  
  
The door opened.  
  
Krista walked down the many steps. She wore a long pink skirt and a white undershirt, with a white and black horizontally striped wool sweater, unbuttoned.  
  
Ymir silently wondered if she was aroused. She couldn’t say she was aroused, but she definitely couldn’t say she was not aroused… She grabbed the extra helmet and offered it.  
  
Krista smiled, dipping her head politely as she took it. She put it on and adjusted the straps before sitting on the bitch seat. She slipped her arms around the older woman and chuckled.  
  
Ymir smirked before she kicked up the foot stand and revved up the engine. It wasn’t long before they were on the road again. She crossed the bridge a second time, trying her best not to notice how great those slim arms felt around her waist.

  
⁂

  
  
“Oh,” Krista looked around. “I’ve heard of this place.”  
  
“You have?” Ymir didn’t sound too surprised. “Well everyone knows this place.”  
  
Krista chuckled. “You’re right, but my parents think it’s a bad restaurant, since they don’t take reservations.”  
  
Ymir snorted. “North Crescent.”  
  
“Mhm,” Krista mused as she eyed the menu. She glanced around; there was soft music playing in the background, a strum of guitar was all she could make out. There were candles at every table, which provided the only soft light to the restaurant. “I heard it was jam-packed every day though.”  
  
“Well on Fridays and weekends, yeah, but on weekdays it depends.”  
  
Krista smiled and looked back at the menu. She glanced to the prices first; deciding they were reasonable, she knew she wouldn’t feel too guilty.  
  
“Hello,” a waitress came to their table. She grabbed her pen and paper and smiled. “Are you two ready to order, or do you need more time?”  
  
Ymir glanced to Krista. “I’m ready, if you are?”  
  
“Yeah.” She nodded and looked at the waitress. “I’ll go with the lamb chops dinner, please.”  
  
Ymir smiled, “And I’ll go with the souvlaki plate.”  
  
The waitress wrote them both down and smiled. “Do you two want anything to drink? Any appetizers?”  
  
“Sure,” Ymir shrugged, glancing to Krista.  
  
Krista smiled, “We could share the calamari to start.”  
  
Ymir grinned. “We’ll go for that. And water’s fine for me.”  
  
“Same,” Krista nodded.  
  
The waitress took both menus and left with a smile.  
  
“So…” Ymir crossed her legs, sitting back in her chair, then crossed her arms, “This is a date, huh?”  
  
Krista mimicked the action and cocked her head to the side. “Yep.”  
  
Ymir snickered. “You’re forward.”  
  
Krista nodded. “I like being forward when I can. It’s liberating.”  
  
“You don’t get the chance often, huh?”  
  
Krista shook her head. “It’s like dealing with two lives, sometimes…” She paused, almost hesitating, before she went on: “It’s all about appearances and gossip, and… frankly, bullshit, when it’s my family. If it wasn’t for the few friends I have, I’d drive myself crazy. I don’t really know how I ended up bar singing, but I just need some way to be me from time to time. When you pretend, so often, to be someone you’re not… it’s hard to differentiate. How much is a lie, a façade, how much of it is real? You tend to become the person you’re pretending to be, even if you don’t want to be. So…” She suddenly blinked, “Sorry… I was rambling.”  
  
Ymir leaned forward and smiled. “Nah, don’t apologise. I think it’s cool.”  
  
Krista blinked. “Cool?”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “I just mean… I don’t know. I kinda understand you on some level…” She knew she couldn’t exactly bring that up, but… “I think it’s good, though. You’re making the time and effort to be yourself, even if your income units want you to be something else.”  
  
Krista laughed, shaking her head. “Income units?”  
  
“Well, really, what other good are they?”  
  
“I guess that’s a fair point, Ymir.” Krista smiled softly. “I’m glad you find my rambling interesting.”  
  
“I find you interesting,” Ymir shrugged. “I don’t know why, but I guess I want to know more about you? I don’t get it.”  
  
Krista gave a mock pout before it turned to a smile. “Are you really saying you don’t know why you want to know more about the person you’re on a date with?”  
  
Ymir closed her mouth. She pursed her lips before shrugging. “Well… if you put it like _that_ …”  
  
Krista laughed again, light and loud, liberated.  
  
Ymir grinned. “You got a cute laugh.”  
  
Krista felt her cheeks warm and she dipped her head. “Thanks.”  
  
The waitress returned to the table with a tray in hand. She put the two glasses of water in front of them before putting the plate of calamari at the center. She put two smaller plates down as well and smiled. “Enjoy.”  
  
“Thank you,” Krista chimed. She glanced at the plate and grinned. “Damn, it’s been so long since I’ve had calamari… We don’t eat anything fried in our house.”  
  
Ymir’s eyes widened. “You poor soul… Our next date will be fast food.”  
  
Krista grinned, chuckling. “You know… I probably wouldn’t mind.”  
  
“Well, I’ll keep that for when I run out of ideas.”  
  
“I’ll look forward to it.”

  
⁂

  
  
Dinner went better than either of them expected. Ymir paid and Krista muttered about how she would pay for the next one. Ymir told her to dream on. They eventually stepped out of the restaurant and looked up to the dark sky.  
  
“Wow,” Krista whispered. “Time’s really passed, huh?”  
  
Ymir checked her phone and nodded. “Mhm. You want to head home, or stop by somewhere else?”  
  
Krista thought about it. “Well, are you going to come tomorrow?”  
  
“Come?” Ymir raised an eyebrow. “Where?”  
  
“The bar,” Krista smiled.  
  
“Oh.” Ymir nodded. “If you’re there, hell yeah.”  
  
“Good… then I guess I won’t mind too much if tonight ends a little early.”  
  
Ymir nodded. “Fair enough.”  
  
“Historia?”  
  
Krista winced a little. She turned to the side and saw an older woman approach them. “Hi,” she forced a smile.  
  
“Oh hello,” the woman who was in her forties smiled. “Funny to bump into you here. How are you?”  
  
“I’m very good, how are you ma’am?”  
  
“Oh, I’m very good too.” She turned to Ymir and offered her hand, “Is this a friend of yours?”  
  
“Yes,” Krista nodded, “This is Ymir.”  
  
“Ymir?” She smiled, “What a lovely name.”  
  
“Thank you,” Ymir smiled as well. Everyone was smiling. She found it unnerving.  
  
“Anyway,” the woman sighed, “I’ve gotta run. Goodnight you two.”  
  
“Goodnight,” Krista waved her off.  
  
Ymir waited until she was gone before she looked at the blonde. “What did she call you? History?”  
  
Krista snorted and reached in the pocket of her jacket. She pulled out her wallet, then opened it. “Here,” she offered her drivers.  
  
Ymir took it and looked at it, then the back. “What?”  
  
“The name,” Krista explained, “My full legal name.”  
  
“Oh.” Ymir looked at the front and read aloud, “Historia Christine Elisabeth von ‘Til Reiss-Lenz.” She looked back at the girl with oogled eyes.  
  
“Mhm. Or Krista.”  
  
“Krista it is,” Ymir offered the card back. “But why with a ‘K’, if it’s Christine?”  
  
“I just did it to piss off my mom,” Krista admitted as she took the card. She slipped it back into her wallet, then her jacket. “I really don’t have a good reason for it, but the name is kind of my own now… maybe. I don’t know. It’s annoying. It’s long and pretentious and I hate it… and von has to be uncapitalised, but ‘Til is capitalised, and it has an apostrophe. Why? Why would anyone do that to their child?”  
  
Ymir laughed a lot louder than she should have. She put her hands on her hips and she nodded. “At least you’ve got the right way of looking at it… I think, at least. You took the bullshit they gave you and made something of your own out of it.”  
  
“All I did was use a ‘K’,” Krista pointed out.  
  
“Well, you don’t have to do something super special. No one’s expecting Mozart’s Moonlight Sonata.”  
  
“Beethoven,” she corrected. “Beethoven wrote Moonlight Sonata.”  
  
“Well excuse me,” Ymir snickered.  
  
Krista grinned.

  
⁂

  
  
It was Friday, Friday night. Ymir sat at one of the stools again. She gave Mina a little wave and ordered a virgin drink, again. She was off the stupid antibiotics, finally, which meant she could drink… but she was also driving Krista home. She looked at the stage, waiting for her _girlfriend_ to get on stage. She realised it had been two weeks, exactly fourteen days, since she met Krista for the first time. She pursed her lips, unsure of how she felt about it. A part of her was ecstatic, and the other part of her… was probably also ecstatic.  
  
“One unsweetened Arnold Palmer.”  
  
Ymir glanced to Mina, smiling. “Thanks.”  
  
Mina smiled back, “You’re welcome…” She paused for a little bit. “So, you’re back?”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want me here?”  
  
“Oh no! It’s not like that!”  
  
Ymir chuckled, “Kidding, sheesh.”  
  
“Oh,” Mina felt embarrassed. “I was just curious why?”  
  
Ymir sipped her drink before cocking her head to the side. “Apparently my girlfriend is singing tonight.”  
  
Mina raised both eyebrows. “Girlfriend, huh? That’s a surprise.”  
  
“To you and me both,” Ymir chuckled. “Never thought I was into chicks, but in comes some bar singer and apparently I’ve leaned this way all along.”  
  
Mina laughed and looked at the stage. “Well, that’s kind of romantic, right?”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow.  
  
“She’s like an angel that swept you off your feet with her charms and her–”  
  
“–I’m gonna stop you right there,” Ymir cut her off before the two of them chuckled.  
  
“Oh,” Mina glanced to the stage. “There she is.”  
  
Ymir’s breath hitched in her throat.  
  
She forgot Krista dressed up: Leather jacket, an asymmetrical white wrap skirt, and black heels. Her hair was dyed at the tips and she was wearing about four times the amount of eye shadow as she had been yesterday.  
  
“She ain’t a fucking angel,” Ymir muttered, “But maybe she did swipe me off my feet.”  
  
Mina chose not to comment.  
  
Krista made eye contact with Ymir and gave a little wave.  
  
Ymir didn’t know why, but she blew the blonde a little kiss.  
  
Krista grinned wide and caught it before putting it in her jacket pocket and zipping it up to keep it safe.  
  
Ymir snorted, feeling utterly sick with how sweet that was. She sipped her drink and watched.  
  
The bassist started first, then the slow strum of the guitar kicked in.  
  
Krista sang softly, letting her eyes lid and her body sway to the slurred beats of the song. Her hand eventually drifted in front of her, slim fingers resting lightly on the stand of the microphone. Her voice was soft and feminine, the way Ymir remembered it. There was something so… _right_ about the way she sang.  
  
Ymir sipped her drink again, letting the slightly sour drink ground her again. She watched, never once taking her eyes off of her girlfriend. _Her_ girlfriend… The thought was so weird, so odd, so foreign and yet it was so inviting. It was weird for so many reasons, and yet none of them seemed to matter.  
  
Ymir had never dated a girl before, but she couldn’t really care about that minor detail.  
  
Ymir had never really dated anyone since the eighth grade—she was used to subs who _would_ submit to her and follow every order she made or get the fuck out of her life—but she didn’t really care about that minor detail.  
  
All in all, Ymir silently realised she had no idea how she could deal with this kind of relationship… but she didn’t really care about that minor detail either.


	5. 5: Sun (4)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so trying something a little different for formatting wise: 
> 
> Italics + » = an incoming text.  
> Italics + — = an outgoing text.
> 
> I did my best to make it as clear as possible in the chapter, so it shouldn't be a problem but I was just wondering how it reads. If you possible, could you let me know in the comments?
> 
> Anyway, I know this was a Femslash "February" fic, but it's going to take me longer. I've fully planned it out now, so expect some quicker updates on this. Enjoy~!

* * *

 

 

After their second date on Thursday, she came to the bar and watched Krista sing, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; and, every night, Krista climbed on one of the stools after her performance and the two of them talked. It was mostly small talk, light hearted topics, though they occasionally talked about their lives. Ymir kept noticing the way Krista smiled; it was so wide, so unlike the quiet girl one would expect from looking at her.  
  
During the week, with Krista’s parents, they didn’t have the chance to see each other, face-to-face at least. They still talked, calls and texts, occasional video calls and facetimes, but it had become a relationship with distance. They were in the same city; well, technically, two cities but Ymir couldn’t really consider a five minute drive over a four lane red bridge to be a good enough separator.  
  
Ymir was lying on her bed, in the dark, fingers swiping along the touchscreen. She sent the text at midnight:  
  
 _—I honestly want to see you more  
often but having these breaks is kind  
of nice its helping me deal with the  
whole dating a chick thing… that  
doesnt sound too bad does it?_  
  
She cringed a bit, hitting the top button of her phone and watching the bright light fade away. Not expecting a reply right away, she shivered when the light turned back on and it vibrated in her hand. She swiped her finger along the screen to see the reply from Krista:  
  
 _» Not if you take me out on a date  
this friday_  
  
Ymir smirked, shaking her head. “Of course she would.”  
  
 _—Going to skip bar singing or  
want to do something after?_  
  
 _» We could do something after if  
you dont mind?_  
  
Ymir thought about it, then tilted her head.  
  
 _—We can decide then how about  
that then?_  
  
 _» Works for me!_

⁂

  
  
It was a truth universally acknowledged, that people went to bars to get drunk. Bars were homes and shelters to the loud and the rowdy, the solemn and the depressed, the regular drinkers and the first timers. Bars were for getting drunk. Some people went to bars to meet friends and have a nice evening, but even being social in a bar meant people were just trying to get drunk together.  
  
Bars were for getting drunk.  
  
Ymir was at a bar.  
  
Ymir was not getting drunk.  
  
For the first time in a long while, she didn’t mind not being drunk either. She had a non-alcoholic drink, and actually liked it. She reminded herself to ask Mina for the name of it. She watched as the bassist tapped Krista on her shoulder. They talked a little, then went back to their spots on the stage. It seemed like they didn’t really know each other. No. They knew each other, but they weren’t really friends with each other. She glanced to Mina, “Hey.”  
  
“Hey,” she smiled back. “What’s up?”  
  
“Yeah, I’m curious about their band. How did they meet up?”  
  
“Oh, well, they sort of didn’t?” Mina chuckled, moving some black hair out of her eyes. “From what I understand, because they started before I worked here, the guy playing the guitar just started playing one night, then that guy brought his bass and just started playing too whenever he could make it.”  
  
“And Krista?” Ymir cocked her head. “She just join in too?”  
  
“Pretty much,” Mina nodded. “She used to sit at the counter, here, actually, with a couple of her friends. She knew the songs, started humming along to them, then one day she asked if we had a mic and just got on stage and sang. They pretty much play the same songs every night, but they do it for fun, so I guess it takes the stress away or something?”  
  
“Huh, that makes sense.” Ymir sipped her drink and looked around. “No offense, Mina, but uh… Why would Krista and her friends end up in a place like…? Again, no offense, but a place like this? Really?”  
  
“No offense taken,” Mina said with a smile. “Truth be told, this place is kind of run down. It’s not… bad, working here, there’s actually not much to do, so I just stand here and clean glasses for eight hours, five days a week. But I know what you mean, it’s sort of…” She tilted her head to the side. “Well…”  
  
“A shit hole?”  
  
Mina laughed, instantly bringing a hand to cover her mouth. “Yes, that’s… that’s one way to put it, yeah. But back when Krista and her friends used to come here, it was a pretty nice place. They used to hire actual paid performers, and daily drinks and sometimes–”  
  
“–Testing,” Krista’s voice had slight static.  
  
“Oh, show’s going to start soon,” Mina smiled.  
  
Ymir chuckled and sipped her drink. She looked around.  
  
It was a dusty, wooden, run-down place. Everyone looked older than they were, slumped on chairs, around tables. Empty glasses everywhere, foamy cups. Everyone looked dead. The wooden stage looked rough, with several splints under Krista’s short heels and Ymir wondered why there even was a stage at that point.  
  
Ymir cocked her head.  
  
She realised she would have loved to see this place all lively, with her girl all dressed up and singing.  
  
A smirk formed on her lips and she made eye contact with Krista.  
  
Krista was wearing a high blue skirt and a loose, but thick, white shirt that was asymmetrical and leaned to one side. She had a silver necklace and a couple bracelets, a pair of green earrings on each side. The tips of her hair, as they always were when she was at the bar, were dyed black. She wore lighter makeup than usual; only a touch of eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara.  
  
Ymir realised Krista’s eyes were probably at the halfway point between blue and green. She was one of those people that depended on the lighting—but with her earrings, or perhaps the light, they looked deep green tonight. Ymir slowly bit her bottom lip.  
  
The bassist started, then the guitar; soon, Krista was swaying her hips side to side.  
  
Then she sang.  
  
One song, two songs; the words spilled from her lips.  
  
All the while, Krista’s eyes drifted to Ymir, and Ymir only occasionally looked away to sip her drink. Ymir wondered why—Then again, she knew she was a hot piece of ass and if Krista wanted to take in her good looks then she could be her guest. It started with the usual songs, but Ymir paused as she listened. Their last song was different tonight. A love song, nothing sappy or overly romantic—Krista drawled her words as she sang, speaking with the melodious slur that was perfect for a bar.  
  
“You ever get nervous?”  
  
Krista, sitting on one of the high stools and sipping on her ice water, glanced to her. “Sorry? Nervous?”  
  
“Yeah, nervous…” Ymir shrugged. “Like, being on stage. Okay, so this place isn’t a full house or anything, not much of an audience, but ever get stage fright?”  
  
“Well, even if it was a full house, no one’s really paying attention,” Krista pointed out. “But, that’s kind of a good thing, I mean if I hit the wrong note—which I did, tonight—nobody would notice, at all.”  
  
“I did.” Ymir sipped her drink. “You missed your B Minor.”  
  
Krista’s eyes widened, “You could tell?”  
  
“Pfft.” Ymir laughed, leaning on the counter as she took in the most surprised expression she had ever seen. “I don’t know jack shit about music, chill. I made it up.”  
  
Krista slapped her arm, pouting. “You scared me, sheesh!” The smallest smile formed on her lips as she stirred her bright drink with a straw. “So,” she took a sip. “What’s the plan for tonight? You promised me a date, didn’t you?”  
  
“Yeah yeah, you’re getting your stupid date,” she grumbled, pretending to be upset about it. She earned herself another slap on her arm and she chuckled again. “I figure we could head back to my place after your singing.” She scratched her cheek, looking up to the brightly coloured bottles at the top of the bar. “You already cooked for me, so I figured maybe I could try cooking for you?—I’m not a great chef or anything, don’t expect much, but I uh might know a thing I can make, if that’s uh,” she glanced to Krista, “Cool with you?”  
  
The biggest smile formed on Krista’s face and she wagged her eyebrows. “Your place, huh?”  
  
Her cheeks warmed. This time, it was Ymir who slapped Krista’s arm. “N-Not like that!”  
  
Krista snickered and soon the snicker turned into a chuckle—and eventually she was just full-blown laughing. It was out of place in the run-down little bar. “I’m sorry! I know that’s not what you meant, but you’re just so easy to tease, I can’t help myself.”  
  
Ymir choked on her drink. She put her mug down and slammed her hand on the counter. She didn’t even notice Mina jump and scream. “No!” Ymir shouted, “Fuck you! I’m not easy to tease! Trust me, I know people who are easy to tease”—Jean, Marco, Armin—”And I am _not_ like them! That’s not me!”  
  
Krista cackled, throwing her head back. She brought a hand to her mouth but the effort to make herself quieter was useless.  
  
Ymir huffed. Like hell she was easy to tease! She crossed her arms. “I said, I’m not like them. I’m. Not. Like. Them.”  
  
Krista hugged her sides, closing her eyes as she struggled to breathe throughout bouts of laughter. “Of,” she took another breath, “Of course not.” She swallowed hard, then sipped her drink. “Of course you’re not like them…” Her eyes flashed up. “I wouldn’t go down on them.”  
  
Ymir’s face felt hot and she knew her cheeks were darkening with warmth. “Sh-Shut the hell up!”  
  
Krista once more broke like a floodgate, spilling the giggling fit like a flood. “I’m,” she couldn’t finish her sentence.  
  
Ymir frowned. Mina was smiling, but as soon as Ymir shot her a dark look she turned around and pretended to be washing an already clean cup.

⁂

  
  
“So,” Ymir threw her leather jacket to the side, not caring where it landed. She rubbed her neck and made her way to the kitchen. “Do you like spicy food?”  
  
Krista’s eyes glistened like a firework show. “I love spicy!”  
  
Ymir turned around; knowing her way around her own place, obviously, she walked backwards as Krista followed. “Really?” She smirked. “How bad?”  
  
“Burn me down.” Krista nodded. “Kill me with it.”  
  
Ymir snickered and turned around. She moved to the fridge and opened the door. She did a quick scan of the chicken breasts she had prepared before and nodded. “Well,” she glanced over, “Be careful what you wish for. It won’t take me long if you want to have a look around or something? You can watch if you want. I don’t really care.”  
  
Krista took a seat at the island counter and tilted her head. “Need any help with anything?”  
  
“I don’t think so…” She glanced to her. “Well, maybe if I start screwing something up…”  
  
Krista chuckled and leaned forward. “What are you going to make?”  
  
“Uh,” Ymir turned around and walked over to the oven. She pressed some buttons and it beeped. “Okay, preheat to start…” She looked over her shoulder. “Sorry. Just some chicken.” She grabbed a glass casserole dish and put it on the counter. She looked at it, then to Krista, then back at it. “You basically put stuff on it and you eat it.”  
  
Krista nodded. “Nice.”  
  
Ymir pursed her lips.  
  
“I know a lot of recipes where you do stuff,” she said with a smile, “But then you don’t get to eat it. I don’t like those ones too much.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah,” Ymir grumbled. She grabbed a quick spray oil and quickly coated the baking dish. She walked back to the fridge. She grabbed the small thing of halved chicken breasts and walked back. The fridge door closed on its own, not that she even thought about that.  
  
Krista watched with interest.  
  
Ymir didn’t really know what she was doing but she pursed her lips and reminded herself to just do as she practiced. Armin had told her it wasn’t a hard recipe to do, and he wasn’t wrong about that. She washed her hands quickly and grabbed a sharp knife. She chopped parsley and basil together on a cutting board then sprinkled the bottom. She opened the spice rack and pulled out her two favourite: Paprika and Cumin. She sprinkled it over the bottom of the dish.  
  
She knew Krista was still watching.  
  
It made her feel like she had to do everything right. Great, she realised, more pressure. She placed the halved chicken breasts, arranging them on the dish so they were evenly spaced out. She gave them each a little pat, like a pat on the back, a pat on the back for not screwing up anything so far.”  
  
“You know,” Krista spoke softly, “I don’t see people season the bottom of a dish very often. That’s kind of cool.”  
  
“Uh, yeah…” Ymir looked up at her. A smile formed on her lips and she snickered. “I’ve got no fucking clue what I’m doin’ Blondie; all I do know is that this is what I do and then it comes out pretty good and stuff.”  
  
Krista grinned. “Well, as long as it’s tasty, right?”  
  
“Right,” Ymir nodded. She grabbed another spice from the rack and opened it up.  
  
“Curry powder?”  
  
“Uhuh,” Ymir snickered. “And the good stuff too.” She carefully sprinkled some over each piece. The oven beeped behind her and she by accidentally dropped a large amount on one. She looked at Krista and they both chuckled.  
  
“We can see who is stronger with that,” Krista offered.  
  
“Okay, but it’s not my fault if you cry.” Ymir added a bit more powder to that one and put the curry powder aside. She sliced a tomato quickly and placed a slice on each of the halves, then sprinkled the rest of the parsley and basil over it. “There.”  
  
“There.” Krista seemed impressed. She glanced to the oven, then to the tray. “Going to put that in?”  
  
“Gotta,” Ymir thought about it, “Gotta, you know, cover it with that metal paper thing that’s thin and for ovens?”  
  
“Metal paper thing,” Krista repeated.  
  
“Shush!”  
  
“Aluminum foil.”  
  
“Yeah, that. Shush.”  
  
Krista snickered.

⁂

  
  
It was a simple plate, since that was all Ymir could do. The chicken baked nicely; the breasts themselves were a pale white but they were garnished with so many colours from the spices, tomatoes, and herbs that Krista actually clapped her hands excitedly when she saw it. Ymir felt a bit of a confidence boost from that and began serving. Along with the chicken were some steamed veggies, peas and corns.  
  
“Oh my God,” Krista spoke with her mouth full.  
  
Ymir snickered as she took a bite. She nodded in appreciation. “Gonna have to remember to give Arlert a thank you for the recipe.”  
  
Krista smiled, tilting her head. “So someone taught you? Was he an expert? What else do you know?”  
  
“I can only do a couple things,” Ymir admitted. She found herself with a huge smile and even though she tried to make it die down, it persisted. “He’s not an expert… Well, okay, he is, but he’s not a chef or anything. He just cooks a lot. He’s just some blond kid.”  
  
“Blond, huh?” Krista perked both eyebrows up with a smirk.  
  
Ymir snickered and took a sip from her glass of water. “Any chance you get, you’re gonna flirt. You never hold back, do you?”  
  
“Well,” Krista pretended to pout, “Do you want me to hold back?”  
  
“Hell no.”  
  
“Then, why would I?”  
  
Ymir blinked. “Shit, that’s a good argument. I don’t really know, you just sort of strike me as the type of person who wouldn’t.”  
  
Krista gave a small smile and sipped her own drink.  
  
“But, I like that.”  
  
Krista blinked. “Huh?”  
  
Ymir rested her head on her hand. “I like that. You’re not who you pretend you are… Or, well, you’re not who you have to pretend you are. Sure, some people might find that annoying, but it’s kind of fun to be honest. Finding out who Krista is, or…” She suddenly laughed. “Who History Alexandra Christine Vons and Tons Rice Lenses is.”  
  
Krista’s right eye twitched. “You got Christine right.”  
  
Ymir tried to suppress her laugh, but she couldn’t.  
  
Krista frowned. “What’s so funny?”  
  
“Oh come on,” Ymir kept laughing, “It’s funny!”  
  
“Funny…?”  
  
“It’s so full of shit,” Ymir explained, “It’s so pretentious and ridiculous. What was it? Tell me.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Aw, please babe?”  
  
Krista’s mouth twitch and she sighed. “Historia Christine Elisabeth von Til’ Reiss-Lenz.”  
  
Ymir snickered. She covered her mouth with her hand, but her body was shaking with the suppressed laughter.  
  
Krista pouted. “Why are you laughing?”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Ymir breathed. “It’s just… it’s funny because I can’t believe someone in this day and age is stuck with a name like that, I feel so bad for you. But, hey, I like Krista way better.”  
  
Krista smiled. “I like you too.”  
  
Ymir grinned. “Shit, you really take every chance you get.”  
  
“Uhuh!”  
  
Ymir noticed both of their plates were empty and she glanced to the pan. “Want more?”  
  
“Sure!”

⁂

  
  
“Cute place,” Krista chimed as she walked around.  
  
Ymir felt a little nervous about Krista examining her place. She never thought much of it, but as she looked around, herself, she realised it said a lot about Ymir. Almost everything of value was in the small den she had. She really skimped out on furniture elsewhere, but the loveseat, the couch, and the small coffee table were all expensive. Money well spent, she remembered saying when she bought it. She still thought that was the truth, but she wondered if maybe she should have a painting somewhere… Like something to say she was cultured and not just a T.V. junkie?  
  
“Wow,” Krista exclaimed as she eyed the rack of movies. “You’ve got a whole collection, huh?”  
  
“Want to watch something?” Ymir tilted her head. She secretly hoped Krista said yes; dates with movies were easy, since all you did was watch something. It meant a good way to kill two to two and a half hours without much effort, and without much chance to screw up. Even if the movie was bad, they could complain about it together.  
  
“Oh!” Krista jumped for joy—literally. “You have a horror section!”  
  
“Yeah,” Ymir smirked. She eyed the racks of movies then rubbed her neck. “Top half is western horrors, bottom is foreign horror.”  
  
“Hmm.” Krista pulled one out from halfway and looked at it. She blinked twice, flipped the case over, then looked at the front over. ‘Sweet Corpse Ballet’. Wow, that’s a… That’s a name for a horror alright.”  
  
“We’d have to watch it in subtitles, since that one’s one of those Japanese psychological horror ones.”  
  
“I got that.” Krista nodded. She glanced at the symbols on the front. “They’re in Kanji… Weird.”  
  
“Kanji?” Ymir tilted her head.  
  
“Oh, sorry, there’s three alphabets for Japanese. Kanji’s the toughest one.”  
  
“You can read Japanese?”  
  
“Oh, no,” Krista shook her head. “But I can identify most alphabets and characters. Human and cultural capital,” she muttered.  
  
Ymir stared at her. “What?”  
  
Krista chuckled. “Sorry. My parents put me through these intense cross-cultural sensitivity courses, since they travel a lot. We learned a bunch of things, like how in some countries in Central Europe you can’t take pictures of monuments or government buildings, since it’s considered disrespectful. Some cultures avoid unlucky numbers—But don’t make the mistake of assuming the younger population believes that kind of superstition, it’ll make you look really bad. But, on the flipside, assuming the younger generation doesn’t care is just as bad. So we went in depth around the world, country by country, and it was hard-core. A part of it was being able to differentiate the different alphabets from Europe and Asia. It was kind of fun, actually… Hard, very hard, but fun.”  
  
Ymir whistled, crossing her arms. “Shit. You’re cultured, huh?”  
  
“Mhm.” Krista gave a forced smile. “Parents forced me on that one.”  
  
“Well… I’ve already decided to be a prejudice shit and hate your parents, but I can admit that’s kind of cool.”  
  
Krista’s smile changed; it became natural and bigger.  
  
“I’d love to travel,” she admitted, “But I don’t really know jack shit about the world. I went to Europe once, for my sister’s graduation. After a week of tipping everyone, a waiter told me that there’s no need to tip them since they get paid full.”  
  
Krista chuckled. “Yeah, it’s kind of cool studying the world. I think you’d love to see it.”  
  
“Hell yeah,” Ymir nodded. “One day I will. But, for now, that’s what you want to watch?”  
  
“Huh?” Krista stared at her. “Oh!” She looked down to the movie case in her hand. “Yeah, sorry, I derailed the conversation.”  
  
“That’s totally fine!”  
  
“You don’t mind watching this one?”  
  
“Nah,” Ymir waved her hand. “It’s actually one of my favs. Good choice.”

⁂

  
  
Two and a half hours of shivering horror later the credits began to roll and Ymir turned off the T.V. They had been sitting on the couch together, and Ymir’s arm somehow found its way over Krista’s shoulder. Krista was shaking, the images flashing before her eyes, and she turned to look at Ymir, and Ymir looked back. They didn’t say anything. The silence went on, and eventually Ymir found it a little uncomfortable. She noticed Krista’s lips were the tiniest bit puckered and she leaned in.  
  
Krista closed her eyes.  
  
Ymir smirked. Right before contact, “Boo!”  
  
Krista shrieked, arms flailing as she bolted across the room.  
  
Ymir threw her head back and laughed.  
  
“You bitch!” Krista walked back to the couch and smacked her arm several times.  
  
Which only made Ymir laugh harder. They were both silenced by a beep and Ymir reached in her pocket. She checked her phone and blinked. “Shit.”  
  
Krista took a seat. “What is it? Something bad?”  
  
“Nah, just a shitty, bad-timed work newsletter thing… But, shit, I just saw the time. It’s late. It’s past two.” She turned to Krista. “I can drive you back to your friends place if you want, or you can sleep here. They’re both fine with me.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
Ymir frowned. “Not like that!”  
  
Krista snickered.  
  
Ymir pretended to be upset, but she ended up chuckling. “You can take the bed, I’ll take the couch.”  
  
“A single bed?”  
  
“Nah, queen sized.”  
  
“Then… We could both fit, right?”  
  
Ymir rolled her eyes. “I have to get used to you taking every single chance you get, don’t I?”  
  
Krista smiled, but shook her head. “No I’m being innocent this time, honest. It’s just sleep. I’m not going to make you sleep on the couch.”  
  
“Okay, okay.” Ymir shrugged. “But don’t try anything, ‘kay?”  
  
“I promise.” Krista dipped her head, then looked at her hair. “I need to shower, though, if that’s okay? This quick dye shouldn’t be in my hair for more than… I think it was either eighteen or twenty hours.”  
  
“That’s totally cool.” Ymir got up. “I’ll get you a towel, and you can borrow some stuff to sleep in if you want?”  
  
“Sure,” Krista nodded.

⁂

  
  
Krista took her shower and Ymir turned on the kettle. She grabbed some spare clothes, a couple shirts that were too small for herself and left it in the bedroom. She went back into the kitchen and grabbed a couple things, a yellow tin, a tea filter, a small teapot and a spoon. She opened the tin and popped the lid. As was her ritual, she smelled the tea: roses, camomile, lemongrass, lavender, hibiscus. Herbal tea, filled with relaxant. She paused for half a moment.  
  
It crossed Ymir’s mind that this was the tea she threw on Krista’s napkin weeks ago. “Has it really been that long?” she asked herself. She counted and realised it had been exactly three weeks since she met Krista. “Three weeks?” she repeated in disbelief.  
  
She shook her head.  
  
She put two teaspoon of the tea blend into the tea filter then placed it in the teapot. She filled it with the hot water and watched the colour slowly changed.  
  
“All done,” Krista chimed.  
  
Ymir glanced over her shoulder.  
  
Krista had a white towel rather loosely wrapped around her sides. Her shoulders and legs were visible, smooth, and her skin was flushed from the heat of the shower. Her hair had returned to its original blonde and all her makeup was gone.  
  
“Want a cookie?” Ymir said sarcastically. “Just go get dressed.”  
  
Krista cackled, but tilted her head. “What are you doing?”  
  
“Making us some tea, if you want.”  
  
“Tea? At this time. Decaf?”  
  
“Herbal, so non-Caf.”  
  
“Sounds good! Where are my clothes? Or should I just not wear a–”  
  
“Shush,” Ymir frowned.  
  
Krista snickered.  
  
“I left some in the bedroom for you.”  
  
“Awesome,” Krista nodded then turned. She walked off.  
  
And Ymir couldn’t help but watch her go. “Damn. That’s it. I’m a lesbian. It’s decided. I gotta get a manly haircut, and manly tattoos, and a manly motorcycle.” She paused. “Oh wait, I have all of those.”  
  
Krista soon returned, dressed in an oversized purple shirt and pyjama bottoms that were way too long for her. “Tea ready?”  
  
“I made lattes.” Ymir turned around and put the two mugs on the table.  
  
“Tea lattes,” Krista sat at the island counter and smiled, “I’ve heard of them but I don’t actually know what they are. Are they basically lattes but with tea instead of coffee?”  
  
“Well, no…” Ymir scratched the back of her head. “Depending from where you get it, coffee lattes are usually one third espresso, then two thirds steamed milk. A tea latte is half super strong tea, then half steamed milk.”  
  
She was about to ask if Ymir used an espresso machine to steam the milk, but she saw it on the kitchen counter. “Super strong tea? Is that just a certain blend or something?”  
  
“Yeah, you generally either put twice the loose leafs, or one and a half depending on the tea, and or two teabags. Milk has a pretty strong… not flavour, but adding milk to delicate teas can easily overpower it, so most people make lattes with black teas, or dark teas, since they’re stronger, usually.”  
  
Krista tilted her head. “You don’t sound so sure… Are you sure you work at a tea shop?”  
  
Ymir gave a mock frown, but a small smile formed on her lips. “Yeah, it’s just there’s so many blends of tea that there’s exceptions to every ‘rule’. There are tons of white tea lattes that are amazing, but you gotta use less milk. Chai tea…” She paused, sighing. “Chai means tea, so when people say chai tea they’re saying ‘tea tea’; technically it’s masala chai, but anyway—Chai tea lattes are popular, because chai has a really strong flavour and you’re supposed to drink it with milk.”  
  
Krista listened with interest. She took a sip of her latte, nodding. “I like chai tea lattes.”  
  
“Ugh.” Ymir shook her head. “Can’t stand it.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Well…” Ymir sighed, “I was raised on the traditional stuff, the real stuff, the one you make in a saucepan with the leaves and spices, and then transfer it to a teapot. The teabag and even the leaves stuff isn’t bad… but it’s just a knock off version. I can make the real thing for you sometime, but it’ll ruin chai tea for you forever.”  
  
Krista grinned. “Well then, you’ll just have to make more for me, won’t you?”  
  
Ymir gave a feral smile. “I guess I’ll have to, won’t I?”


	6. 6: Moon (3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, the rating went up.

* * *

 

 

Warm, incredibly warm; it reminded her of when she used to sit in front of an open fire on cold winter nights. The warmth that was strong, almost overpowering, but always welcomed. Except it wasn’t winter… wasn’t even close to winter. It was spring, and she wasn’t outside… she was in a bed. Krista let out a soft sound as she rolled over. She pushed her head against the crook of the warmth and then her soft blue green eyes fluttered open. She yawned, stretching a bit, but found that she was pulled against the warmth. It was soft, and it smelled nice… like cinnamon. She took in a deep breath and grinned. “Ymir, you’re so damn warm…”  
  
Ymir blinked twice. “Hm?”  
  
“Nothing,” she chuckled. She nuzzled into her neck and kept her eyes closed. As she woke up, slowly, she realised Ymir had both arms around her and the thin sheets were pulled over the two of them. She kissed whatever skin was in front of her lips.  
  
Ymir smiled, nuzzling her hair. “Hmm… Shit, what…” She yawned. “What time is it?”  
  
“I don’t,” Krista interrupted herself with a yawn as well, “I don’t know.”  
  
“Hm.” Ymir opened her eyes and slowly pulled away.  
  
“Nooo…”  
  
“Krista…”  
  
“You’re so comfy.”  
  
“I’m fucking hungry,” Ymir grumbled.  
  
“Oh, food.” Krista pulled away a little. She blinked twice and stared at Ymir. “Make me breakfast. Make me a breakfast fit for kings.”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow and then snorted. “You’re such a shit, even this early in the morning.”  
  
Krista stretched and grinned, closing her eyes as she let out a soft noise. Her limbs came back together as she curled up. “Especially this early in the morning.” She wiggled closer to Ymir and kissed the corner of her mouth. “Now, don’t be a tool, make me food.”  
  
Ymir’s right eye twitched. “I’m going to spank you if you keep this up.”  
  
“Oh?” Krista’s eyes shimmered.  
  
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, one breakfast for kings coming right up…” She kissed Krista once before slipping out of bed. “I hope I don’t fuck it up, though. I’m not the best at food.”  
  
“That’s what you said, but yesterday it was amazing,” Krista smiled. “Plus, if you do mess up, then just take me out for burgers.”  
  
Ymir looked behind her and grinned.  
  
Krista stared; she stared at Ymir’s smile and realised just how much she liked it. It was wry, and maybe a little scary, like a feral grin. Krista knew she wanted to make her smile as much as she could. “Well, get going.”  
  
Ymir shook her head and walked off.  
  
Krista rolled over onto her back and stretched as much as she could. She mewled and made another noise before going back to the fetal position. She hugged a pillow and took in the scent, more cinnamon. She didn’t take the time to read Ymir’s soap and shampoo bottle labels when she took her shower and now she regretted it. It smelled nice. She eventually took a deep breath and slowly rolled over. She had placed her phone on the bedside, set on do not disturb, and she reached out to grab it. Tapping in her passcode, she read a text from Sasha.  
  
 _» So you didn’t stop by last night… either ur dead  
in a ditch or you got lucky Connie’s got his  
money on lucky I’m hoping for ditch cuz then  
I can be crime detective Sasha_  
  
Krista snickered and quickly types back a reply.  
  
 _—I didnt get lucky or end up in a ditch but I  
had a good time_  
  
She put her phone down and paused. She heard a sound.  
  
Water, running.  
  
Krista realised Ymir was taking a shower and she frowned. “Ymir! That’s not breakfast!”  
  
“Oy, you bitch!” Ymir shouted back, “I’m going to stab you!”  
  
Krista cackled and rolled over again. Oh, it was just such a nice bed. She bit her lip, wondering what it would be like to… She snickered.  
  
The water stopped and soon Ymir came back into the room, with a blue towel wrapped around the bits Krista wanted to see, and she began going through her clothes. She picked something out then glanced to Krista, flashing her a rare smile.  
  
Krista instantly smiled back. She felt a warm little flutter in her chest and she couldn’t help but feel her cheeks redden.  
  
After another ten minutes, Krista heard Ymir doing something in the kitchen. Krista eventually got out of bed, taking her time as she made her way to the bathroom. The fan was on and running, but it was still a little steamy. The smell of Ymir filled the room and Krista felt relaxed. She looked at herself in the mirror and winced. Bed head, and a bad case of it… She looked around and saw a simple comb. She examined it, seeing that it wasn’t really used and brushed her hair. Only a couple strokes, because bed head was cute, very cute, but it needed a bit of work. She paused and nodded to herself.  
  
Now she had Hollywood bed head.  
  
She stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to the kitchen.  
  
“Oy,” Ymir called, “Get out. I’m not done yet. Almost, couple minutes.”  
  
“Okay,” Krista snickered. She walked to the T.V. room and dropped onto the couch they had been cuddling on last night. She glanced at her phone and saw a reply from Sasha:  
  
 _» Spill. The. Greens._  
  
 _» Beans* damn autocorrect it should  
know I dont eat my greens_  
  
Krista chuckled and quickly replied:  
  
 _—We watched a movie and cuddled a bit  
I’m going to get lucky eventually just need a  
bit of time_  
  
It didn’t take long for Sasha to text back.  
  
 _» Never rush it little K but hey thats close enough!_  
  
“Okay…” Ymir called out, “I’m done!”  
  
Krista put her phone down and got up. She skipped to the kitchen and tilted her head. There were two plates on the counter; each one had two little bowls made of metal, a circular piece of bread, sliced tomatoes, and something that looked like fried greens. Her eyes widened and she ran up to her seat. “Oh, cool! What is it?”  
  
“It’s uh, well, something my mom used to make a lot.” Ymir scratched the back of her head.  
  
Krista examined the two bowls: One of them had a yellow-orange liquid that looked thick, the other had yogurt. “Is this a curry dish?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Curry, for breakfast?” Krista smiled. “Not that I’m complaining!”  
  
“Actually, it’s a breakfast curry,” Ymir explained. “It’s high in protein and it’s vegetarian. It’s made from ground peas, and stuff. Then there’s the curd… Well it’s not curds, but that’s what people in that area call it, it’s like a yogurt porridge thing? And then there’s the bread.”  
  
“Is this naan?” Krista tilted her head.  
  
“Phulka,” Ymir corrected. “It’s sort of the same.”  
  
Krista grabbed her fork and poked the fried greens. “Oh, oh these are okra?”  
  
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Fried, and I think I did them right. It’s sort of a five dish meal to start off the day. My mom and dad are in love with it, since that’s what they used to eat in India. That’s where they were born.”  
  
“Ohh,” Krista nodded. “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar, right?”  
  
“Pauper,” Ymir grinned. “Eat dinner like a pauper, but yeah, pretty much the same thing. Shit, you sounded like a mom for a second. I’m surprised you know that proverb, from your cross-culture course thing?”  
  
Krista grinned and nodded again. “This looks great!”  
  
“Yeah.” Ymir moved away from the counter and grabbed two cups. “Let’s hope it tastes great too… Here,” she offered a mug, “This is masala chai, done the _right_ way.”  
  
Krista took the cup and smelled it. The bold mixes of spices—cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, peppercorns—infused into the black tea with the sweetness of steamed milk to help bring out the flavours. It all thrilled her core. “Oh!”  
  
Ymir smiled.  
  
Krista noticed it was different: It wasn’t the usual feral grin… it was gentle, almost… shy? Krista could barely believe it, but she realised she wanted to make Ymir smile like that again and again for sure.

  
⁂

  
  
The meal was fantastic, and the two of them spent some time together before Ymir drove Krista over to Sasha and Connie’s. The days passed and she realised she really had an amazing weekend. That was probably why she found it cringe worthy to be back in her own house. Sitting at the dining table with her parents. She wasn’t “Krista”, she was “Historia”. She frowned, hating the two sides to herself.  
  
When she was with her parents, she had to be Historia.  
  
When she was with Sasha and Connie, she had to be Krista.  
  
But when she was with Ymir… Krista’s hands stilled. Her fork and knife paused mid-air and her eyes became unfocused. Ymir liked it when she talked about her cross cultural course… that wasn’t Krista… That was Historia. Maybe, just maybe, with Ymir she could be b—  
  
“Historia.”  
  
Krista raised her head, glancing to her mother. “I’m sorry, did you say something, mother?”  
  
“No,” she said simply. “You just seized up. You’re not sick, are you?”  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She dipped her head. “I just realised something, it’s not a big deal.”  
  
“Good,” her father said. The man sliced his chicken and then looked at her. “Now would be a very bad time for you to get sick, Historia.”  
  
Krista blinked. “Is that so? Is… Have I forgotten something? I do not think there were any events on the calendar.”  
  
“Oh, no,” her mother explained, “This is a new plan we came up with just yesterday. As you know, we have factories all over the globe; and, as you also know, we can’t trust the incompetent with many plans at all. We’ve got to head over to the New York and deal with the executives there.”  
  
“We’re going to be leaving for a short while.” Her father stared at her. “Gone Thursday, back Tuesday. You’ll be alone, but we don’t want to leave you if you’re ill.”  
  
Krista pretended to smile, pretending that such an act of kindness was so great that she was probably in debt to them. “I am fine, thank you for your concern… Will you be visiting your friend, father? The one you went to university with?”  
  
“Possibly,” he admitted, “If it’s convenient. A mutual friend of ours mentioned he is in a bit of a financial fix… so I feel I know how that conversation will go. ‘Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does’.”  
  
“ _Emma,_ ” Krista caught the reference.  
  
Her mother frowned. “Don’t talk about other women at the dinner table, dear.”  
  
Her father frowned back. “Jane Austen has been dead for two hundred years.”  
  
“That doesn’t excuse it.”  
  
Krista blinked and decided to change the conversation: “I’ll watch over the house and estate while you’re out of the country.”  
  
“There probably isn’t a need,” her mother corrected. “You can stay at your friends place if you want. We have that Sasha’s phone number if we can’t reach you on your cell.”  
  
“Actually…” Krista paused, looking at the two of them. “Would it be alright if I stayed with my girlfriend?”  
  
“Girlfriend?” Her mother cocked her head to the side. “I don’t see why not. How long have you been with this girl?”  
  
“A couple weeks,” Krista said. She instantly realised her mistake. Two frowns looked at her. “But I’ve known her for much longer, she’s very trustworthy.”  
  
That seemed to appease the ‘parental units’.  
  
Krista forced a smile. “You’ve met her, mother. Ymir, the tall woman.”  
  
“Oh, yes.” She nodded. “She’s not black, is she?”  
  
Krista blinked. “Excuse me?”  
  
Her father stared at her mother.  
  
Her mother paused then took a sharp breath. “Oh, no, that’s not what I meant.” She waved her hand to dismiss it, “I just meant, she had darker skin but she didn’t look black—It’s fine if she is, I don’t care, I was only wondering what her ethnicity is.”  
  
Krista relaxed a bit. “Indian, I think. Well, she hasn’t told me she’s Indian, but she said her parents immigrated from India.”  
  
“Ymir?” Her father repeated the word. “What a lovely name.”  
  
“Yes,” her mother agreed.  
  
Krista felt a little awkward but kept a smile throughout dinner.

  
⁂

  
  
“Hey, it’s me,” Krista said to her cellphone as she stepped in her room.  
  
“Hey,” Ymir said back, “What’s up?”  
  
“So, if you’re not okay with it, that’s totally cool, but uh, my parents are going to be gone for four days-ish, and I was wondering if I could, maybe, stay with you?” Krista cringed as she waited for a reply. “This house is huge, and I don’t want to stay here alone. If it’s not okay, that’s okay, I know you need your space and time to adjust and all that, but—”  
  
“–It’s cool.” Ymir chuckled. “When to when? I mean, you can stay for as long as you want, but just let me know in advance. I totally need to clean up.”  
  
Krista chuckled. “Clean? It was spotless when I was there!”  
  
“Yeah, I uh… well you liked my cooking, so I asked Arm’ and my mom for some more recipes, and well… I tried to be a little creative and I regret everything. Please, just don’t ask.”  
  
Krista laughed and nodded. “Okay, okay. They’re leaving Thurs and they’ll be back on Tuesday, so I was thinking I could come over on Friday, evening, and maybe leave Monday evening?”  
  
“Works with me. I work on Mondays, eight to four, but I’ll be back home at like four-ten, four-fifteen-ish?”  
  
“Awesome,” she nodded. “Thanks, I owe you one.”  
  
“Nah, it’s cool. Now, I gotta get back to cleaning babe. Text me?”  
  
Krista grinned wide. “Will do!”

  
⁂

  
  
The week took way too long, as far as Krista was concerned. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all needed a speed boost. But, eventually, Friday came. She was finally home alone. She wasn’t stupid. She knew her parents weren’t going to New York for business; in fact, it had very little to do with business, she assumed. She wasn’t exactly creeping on her parents, but she figured she’d take a glance at her mom’s laptop while it was open. She saw an email confirmation about opera tickets to the Met’ Theatre. She soured instantly with jealousy, especially when she found out they were going to see _Tosca_. She wanted to throw a plate at their face and kick them in the groin.  
  
But, like the good girl Historia was, she pretended everything was fine.  
  
She distracted herself by packing two weeks’ worth of clothes in her small little bag. She was only there for a couple days, but she needed outfits! Maybe Ymir would take her to a fancy restaurant, so she needed a nice dress that would make Ymir want to get in her pants. Maybe they would go out to fast food, so she needed a pair of casual wear that would make Ymir want to get in her pants. Maybe it would be chilly, so she needed something that looked warm but would make her freeze so Ymir would see her shiver and offer her jacket and eventually want to get in her pants.  
  
She also brought underwear and bras for every occasion.  
  
Every, occasion.  
  
She snickered as she knocked on Ymir’s apartment door.  
  
Ymir opened the door with the face of true terror, burn marks on her cheeks and tears in her eyes.  
  
Krista paused. “Baby…?”  
  
Ymir swallowed hard and wiped her eyes. “I made food.”  
  
“Oh.” Krista looked at the burn marks. “Do I want to eat it?”  
  
“Yeah, sort of. I hope…”  
  
“I’ll eat it,” Krista forced a smile.  
  
Ymir cleared her throat. “Sorry, come in. I have dinner… sort of, it’s delicious but it’s uh well…”  
  
“Well?” Krista stepped in.  
  
Ymir closed the door and then looked at her feet. “Okay, there’s no easy way to say this… You really liked my food so I tried really hard to impress you… but, um… Well I sorta fucked up and had to throw it all out. But I made something else! And… if you…” She took a deep breath. “If you don’t want to eat it, that’s okay! But this is my specialty! I promise it’ll be good! But if you… don’t want to eat it…”  
  
Krista looked at the flustered girl and she couldn’t help but smile softly. “I do. Ymir, you’re awesome. You made two things for me. Why wouldn’t I want to eat it?”  
  
“Because it’s not…” Ymir looked at her. “It’s not really dinner food.”  
  
“Not dinner food?” She tilted her head. “Then what is it?”  
  
“Pancakes.”  
  
Krista snorted and instantly covered her nose. She smiled and stepped inside, putting her bag down in the hall. “Breakfast for dinner is the best kind of dinner.”  
  
Ymir took a deep breath and nodded. “But, they’re not just pancakes—They are bad ass pancakes. The best pancakes you will ever have in your life, okay?”  
  
“Wow,” Krista raised an eyebrow, “Sounds really…” She stepped into the kitchen and the overwhelming scent of warm chocolate made her moan. “I want it. Where is it? I want it.”  
  
Ymir chuckled and slipped passed her. She set two plates on the counter then grabbed a larger one. There was eight pancakes, stacked on top of each other; they were a very dark brown colour.  
  
“Are they chocolate pancakes?” Krista took a seat and didn’t wait for Ymir to slab one onto her plate. “Where’s the syrup?”  
  
Ymir grabbed a bowl of liquid chocolate and placed it on the table. “Here you go.”  
  
Krista’s lips twitched before the wickedest grin of all time formed. She poured chocolate on her chocolate pancakes and then cut a small piece. She put it in her mouth and then stopped. She made eye contact with Ymir.  
  
Ymir smirked knowingly.  
  
It was light and fluffy, but a bit thicker; rich, it melted in her mouth, smooth and silky—Bliss. Krista could barely swallow as her eyes watered. “Are these… what I think they are?”  
  
Ymir nodded.  
  
“Pancake… brownies?”  
  
“You got it.”  
  
“Marry me,” Krista whispered.  
  
Ymir breathed a sigh of relief. She took a pancake and brought it onto her own plate. “I’m glad you like my pancake brownies. They’re the only thing I can really make. Oh, and brownie pancakes.”  
  
“Marry me faster.”  
  
“And to think I was worried,” Ymir mused.  
  
Krista nodded. “You were crazy.”  
  
Ymir snickered. “My sis and I made these by accident once… She thought we were making brownies, I thought we were making pancakes, and uh… yeah.”  
  
“How…?” Krista’s eyes narrowed. “How did you mix up something like that?”  
  
“We were drunk, very drunk… This was back when we were eighteen? Our parents said our pancakes actually tasted great but told us that if we thought we could get our way out of cleaning up the kitchen they’re going to throw us out on the streets.”  
  
“Oh geez.”  
  
“Yeah, but,” Ymir smiled. “It gave way to these gorgeous things.”  
  
The rest of ‘dinner’ passed in silence. Krista and Ymir both generously poured the chocolate sauce on their brownie pancakes and soon the only thing left was a little bit of the sauce. Krista had no shame in eating two spoonfuls but smiled when she saw Ymir’s jealous pout. “You wish you were me right now.”  
  
Ymir frowned. “Yeah. I wish I was you so I wouldn’t be getting half the chocolate on my face. Geez, you’re a mess…”  
  
Krista giggled. “You could always clean me.”  
  
Ymir reached for paper towel.  
  
“With your tongue.”  
  
Ymir paused. She slowly raised an eyebrow. “I can’t tell if you’re serious.”  
  
“I was kidding… you know, unless you want to.” Krista leaned forward.  
  
Ymir snorted. “I’d lick chocolate off of you if it wasn’t a smear all over your face, seriously, you’re terrible.” She grabbed the paper towel roll and ripped a piece off. She pressed it against Krista’s face and scrubbed.  
  
“Owwww!”  
  
“Holds still, damnit.”  
  
“Oww!”  
  
Ymir moved away.  
  
Krista pouted. She ate another spoonful of liquid chocolate. Bits of it dribbled down her soft pink lips and down to her chin.  
  
Ymir leaned in, licking it up slowly. She flicked her tongue on Krista’s lower lip then backed away.  
  
Krista blinked; she was surprised to see Ymir take initiative. She grinned and stirred the chocolate. “I think I know what else we can do with this…”  
  
“And what’s that, doll?”  
  
Krista chuckled. “You really like pet names, huh?”  
  
“Mhm, well you’re not whiny about it. You don’t know how many guys object to being called ‘doll’ and ‘babe’.”  
  
“Not all of them, I hope?”  
  
“Nah, just the boring ones. A lot of them were cool about it, like you.” Ymir chuckled. “Those are always my favourite.”  
  
“Call me whatever you want,” Krista giggled. “I already legally have seven names, and three nicknames. I don’t mind a couple dozen pet names to go with.”  
  
Ymir snorted at that and then glanced to the chocolate. “So, what’s your great idea with the chocolate, huh?”  
  
“As if I really need to explain it…”  
  
“Nah, you really don’t.”  
  
Krista took the bowl and hopped off the stool. “Then come on, let’s go.” She gave a little wink before turning around. She was half worried Ymir wouldn’t go along with it; but, when she heard footsteps behind her, she relaxed and made her way to Ymir’s bedroom. She felt a little heat flash and it reminded her that this was real, and this was going to happen. She was going to get her tall, dark, and beautiful! She placed the bowl on the bedside table and glanced over her shoulder. “So, how do you want to do this?”  
  
Ymir took a deep breath. She scratched the back of her head and looked down.  
  
Krista’s gaze softened and she turned around to face the taller woman. She hugged her arm, applying pressure to one foot as she leaned on it. “If you don’t want to do this tonight…”  
  
“No, I do!” Ymir’s cheeks darkened. “I just, you know, at this point I’d be choking down a dick or something. I’m not against it, and… to be honest, it’s kind of exciting to be with a chick. I just, sort of… I guess I just always have a plan in my head, of what we’re going to do, you know? I mean I rarely ever follow the plan, but it sort of… I guess helps me get started? Shit, sorry, I’m rambling.”  
  
“It’s okay,” Krista grinned. She took Ymir’s hands and tilted her head. “Don’t worry. Just tell me how you feel, it’s okay.”  
  
“Well…” She glanced to the bedside table and then back to Krista. “Sorry, I feel like I might be a fun killer, but can we leave out the chocolate tonight? I think even vanilla sex is enough to get me all flustered and nervous. I feel like a virgin again, and I don’t really like it.”  
  
Krista chuckled and nodded. “We can always play with that next time. Come on, just feel your way through it. We can go as fast or as slow or even stand still for as long as you want, okay?”  
  
“Okay…” Ymir frowned. “I’m so not used to being the one comforted; but, hey, if it helps… you’re good at comforting?”  
  
“I’m glad to hear it!”  
  
Ymir laughed softly and she leaned down.  
  
Krista closed her eyes. Ymir’s lips met hers and she instantly felt a thrill. She could taste Ymir’s anxiety and excitement, and slowly wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s neck. She breathed through her nose, taking in the scent of cinnamon. She felt hands at her side and the next thing she knew was that she was lifted up. She broke the kiss with a tiny eep and looked to see Ymir had picked her up. Her legs wrapped around Ymir’s waist and she smiled. “Sorry, you scared me.”  
  
Ymir chuckled and brought their lips together. She had one arm under Krista, while the other was around her back. She guided them closer to the bed. She leaned her knees against the edge and slowly placed the smaller blonde down.  
  
Krista broke the kiss and backed away. She made room for Ymir to join her on the bed.  
  
Ymir did join her, and moved above her, looming over her.  
  
Krista felt a little thrill of being completely beneath the taller woman and was surprised to feel an aggressive kiss. She shivered and wiggled her hips. For it being a first time with a chick, she didn’t expect Ymir to be so… forward in bed. But, the kiss broke.  
  
Ymir looked down and bit her lip. “Okay… virgin Ymir time, what should I do?”  
  
Krista laughed at that, feeling guilty instantly. “What do you want to do?”  
  
“Feel you.”  
  
The words made her cheeks redden and she nodded. “Go ahead.”  
  
Ymir was on all fours. She leaned back a bit, applying pressure on her knees so she could move her hands. She moved to Krista’s waist and swallowed hard. She grabbed the bottom of Krista’s shirt and slowly pushed it up.  
  
Krista raised her back, letting the silk slip off of her with ease. She had her black bra on and she let Ymir unhook it and eventually throw it aside. Her breasts were subtle, something she always wished she had more of, but as Ymir stared at her upper half Krista oddly felt gorgeous.  
  
Ymir bit her lip. She placed her hands on Krista’s hips again and moved her hands up.  
  
Krista closed her eyes and sighed sweetly. She could feel Ymir’s fingers—rough, calloused—creeping slowly up her body. Tentative fingers, hesitating… She felt a tickle as they grazed over her body. She let out another sound as they travelled up the curve of her breast. She felt a coil between her legs and smiled. Her breasts were cupped and she wiggled her hips. “So…” Her blue-green eyes flashed up, “How do you like girls so far?”  
  
“It’s nice,” Ymir admitted with a smile. “I hope you don’t mind me going slow…”  
  
“Take your time,” Krista urged. “I don’t mind.”  
  
Ymir nodded.  
  
Krista looked up, examining Ymir’s face. She lacked the usual overflow of confidence that was almost signature; instead, her shyness made her breaths quiet, her excitement made her eyes shine, and her eagerness made her lips curve into the cutest smile.  
  
Ymir moved her hands down. She felt her own thighs twitch and she bit her lip. Her touch moved down Krista’s side, and eventually stopped at the skirt. She hooked her fingers around the waistband and pulled it down.  
  
Krista lifted her hips back as it slid off her. Left in only her black panties, she lowered her eyes to Ymir’s hands, watching as they slowly rolled the last of her clothing down her hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, and eventually threw them aside. She slowly parted her legs, putting her exposed self on display.  
  
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”  
  
Krista felt her cheeks redden. Down there, her muscles quivered a bit with anticipation.  
  
Ymir swallowed hard and took a deep breath. She used two fingers, running the tips down the curve, to the entrance, then back up to the sensitive nub.  
  
“Ah,” Krista breathed slowly. She felt Ymir slowly rub her tender spot and she closed her eyes, moving her head back, craning it off to the side. She felt her whole body react. Her nervous system became heated inside her. As Ymir moved the two fingers against her clit, Krista felt the tingle make her toes curl. Her own hands moved up, cupping her breasts as Ymir massaged her. “Mmm.”  
  
“Feel good?” Ymir’s attempt to sound confident wasn’t lost on her.  
  
Krista nodded. “Yeah, really good.”  
  
The fingers moved quicker. They slid down her and back up, then moved slow circles around the clit.  
  
“Ahh,” Krista let out. “Mmm, like that, please.”  
  
“Good of you to say please.”  
  
The voice was heavy and Krista felt her cheeks flush at that. “Should I also say thank you?”  
  
“If you want, babe.”  
  
Krista grinned, the tingles shaking her thighs. “Then,” she purred, “Thank you.”  
  
“Good girl.”  
  
Krista’s knees wiggled in the air and the coil deep inside her began to build. She let go of her breast, letting her arms rest at her sides. Another noise, soft and delicate, but long and drawn out, escaped her. “Ymir… Mmm, please don’t stop.”  
  
Ymir’s other hand moved. It started at Krista’s hips and went up, over her stomach, over her chest; she cupped one of Krista’s breasts and gave it a teasing squeeze.  
  
“Ah…”  
  
The motions continued.  
  
And so did the noises.  
  
Krista was already so close to peaking and she didn’t know why. Usually she needed more work. She had a theory, though… There was something about Ymir being so, domineering over her, that was just—“Ah,” she gasped. “Ymir, Ymir!” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly; she felt her body squeeze and as Ymir’s fingers pushed against her clit one last time she quietly cried out. Her whole form tensed, peaking in tightness before she released, all her limbs going lax. “Oh…”  
  
Ymir swallowed hard again and slowed down her hands until she stopped.  
  
Krista’s eyes opened and she grinned.  
  
“So…” Ymir’s confident smile returned. “How was I?”  
  
“Mmm, great.” Krista nodded. “Sure you’ve never been with a girl before?”  
  
“Nah, I guess I’m just the master at this,” Ymir waggled her eyebrows playfully.  
  
“And you call me a little shit?”  
  
Ymir snorted.  
  
Krista laughed as well and then bit her lip. “So… Your turn, huh?” She watched fear flash over Ymir’s facial features but it disappeared as soon as it came. “Nervous?”  
  
“A little, yeah.” Ymir nodded, trying to play it off all cool. She tugged off her shirt and threw it to the side.  
  
“Nothing wrong with being nervous,” Krista reminded. She leaned up and wrapped her arms around Ymir’s upper body. She unhooked the bra and tossed it to the side.  
  
Ymir stole a quick a kiss and she moved her hands down to her pants, quickly unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans. She tugged them off, throwing off whatever was left off with it.   
  
“Here,” Krista whispered, “Switch places, you lie on the bed.” The two of them moved and Krista ended up on her knees, between Ymir’s legs. She leaned down, pressing their lips together. She brought a hand to the back of her head and threaded her fingers through thick black hair.  
  
Ymir closed her eyes. She seemed a little hesitant, but she eventually let Krista take control of the kiss.  
  
Krista slowly slipped her tongue against the taller woman’s, while her hand moved from the back of Ymir’s head to cupping her face. She broke their mouths away from one another, softly planting a kiss on Ymir’s jaw. Her hand moved down Ymir’s neck and over her collarbones, over her breast and down her side, down her hips and pausing there.  
  
Ymir opened her eyes, biting her lip.  
  
Krista smiled and smooched her neck. Her hand drifted to the side; and, with her thumb, she slowly rubbed the outer surface of her inner thigh.  
  
Ymir relaxed a little, leaning her head back.  
  
Krista leaned in and kissed Ymir’s collarbone. She rubbed her thumb up and down the curve before moving it to the top. She rubbed the pad of her thumb against the clit, starting with slow circles. She turned her wrist, moving her pointer and middle fingers to Ymir’s entrance. She rubbed at it before slowly slipping them inside.  
  
Ymir gasped, rolling her shoulders back.  
  
Krista’s mouth began a trail of kisses, moving from Ymir’s collarbone to her neck, and back again; while her fingers proceeded a similar rhythm, her thumb continued the slow circles and her two forefingers slid in and out of the warm walls. She searched inside Ymir, rubbing along the top until her fingers brushed against something that felt like a small pad, a more concentrated grouping of cells.  
  
Ymir inhaled sharply, startled. “Shit.”  
  
Krista moved her head away, cocking her head with enough force that the blonde hair would get out of her eyes. “What?”  
  
“I’m just surprised,” Ymir chuckled, “You found it already, huh?”  
  
“Well, I _am_ a girl…” Krista grinned. “That, and yours was pretty easy to find.”  
  
“Fuck,” Ymir whispered as Krista’s two fingers brushed over it again. “Heh, ‘Little Angel’ my ass—you’re good at this.”  
  
“Angel?” Krista asked as she continued moving her hands. “Who called me that?”  
  
“Mina,” Ymir muttered. “Said you were a little angel that knocked me off my feet.”  
  
“Well I might not be an angel,” Krista giggled, “But I’ll give you a little run for your money.”  
  
“Oh?” Ymir closed her eyes and twitched, letting out a little noise. “Is that so?”  
  
Krista graced Ymir with a sweet smile before she kissed her collarbone again. She moved her mouth to the centre of Ymir’s chest, between her breasts and planted another kiss. She felt her fingers covered with wetness and it only aided her as she slipped in and out, rubbing against the spot.  
  
Ymir used both hands to cup Krista’s face. She pulled her up and brought their lips together. She licked the seam between their lips and then thrust her tongue forward.  
  
Krista felt her cheeks flush; Ymir wasn’t aggressive, but there was something about the way she moved—the way she took control. It made her give up, let Ymir handle her mouth the way she wanted. The words ‘Good Girl’ repeated in her head and heat flashed across her body. Krista had to remind herself she was pleasing Ymir at the moment. She continued the maddening little circles with her thumb, speeding up a bit. Her fingers slid in and out of the heat and felt the walls tighten around her.  
  
Ymir broke the kiss just to breathe. She kept her eyes closed and pressed their foreheads together. “Keep going, fuck.”  
  
“Who’s a good girl now?”  
  
Ymir’s eyes opened and narrowed.  
  
Krista instantly felt a hundred times smaller, but she couldn’t help but laugh.  
  
Ymir chuckled as well. “You’re such a little minx, you know that?”  
  
Krista kissed the corner of Ymir’s mouth. “Only to a few.”  
  
“Lucky me,” Ymir said sarcastically.  
  
Krista pushed hard on Ymir’s clit and g-spot at the same time, almost like she was pinching her. “Lucky you.”  
  
Ymir’s thigh quivered and she closed her eyes. Before the snarky reply could leave her throat, her mind went numb—pure white; she squeezed on those two fingers and her body felt the quake of pleasure rip through the fibres of her body. “Fuck!” she cried out, desperate and loud.  
  
Krista grinned, watching as pleasure moved over her facial features.  
  
Ymir eventually relaxed, shutting her eyes and letting them roll to the back of her head.  
  
“Lucky you,” Krista repeated.  
  
“I take back my sarcasm—I am a lucky fuck.”  
  
Krista laughed and slipped her hand out. She lied down, on her stomach, besides Ymir and watched her.  
  
Ymir opened her eyes and stared into Krista’s eyes.  
  
With a lack of light, it was hard to tell, but she swore she saw Ymir’s cheeks darken. If it was out of pleasure, lust, the aftershocks, or if it was a blush for more romantic reasons, all of it was unknown to her. She just smiled and grinned. “Wanna know the best part?”  
  
“Best part?” Ymir blinked, “What?”  
  
“What’s better than sex?”  
  
“Nothing.”  
  
“Something!” Krista giggled. “Sex and…” She rolled over and grabbed a bowl by the bedside, “Chocolate!”  
  
“Sex and chocolate,” Ymir repeated. “I fucking love you.”  
  
Krista blinked twice. She stopped, wondering if she heard that right.  
  
Ymir paused, realising what she said. She put a hand to her lips.  
  
Deciding to play it cool, she chuckled. “I love you too,” Krista chimed as she moved closer to Ymir. “Now let’s finish up this chocolate.”  
  
Ymir moved her hand away to reveal a huge grin. “Okay. But you ate most of it, so it’s only fair that I get more this time.”  
  
“Or what? You’ll bite me?”  
  
Ymir snickered. “I’ll do more than that.”  
  
Krista put a spoonful of the chocolate in her mouth; it wasn’t as hot as before, but it was thicker too. She swallowed and moaned. “I think you’re gonna have to steal this bowl from me.”  
  
“You little shit…”  
  
Krista just grinned.


	7. 7: Sun (5) & Moon (4)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The minor flashback mid-way through this chap is actually from Chapter One, Sun (1). Isn't that cool? I think that's cool. Pretend it's cool with me.

* * *

 

 

 _ **Sun (5)**_  
  
“So…” Ymir sipped her drink. “You really like him?”  
  
Marco’s cheeks flushed as he gave a nod. “You have no idea, Ymir… He’s…”  
  
Ymir rolled her eyes. “Isn’t he a bit young, though? Like Armin’s age or something?”  
  
“No, he’s twenty-one. Mikasa’s age, actually. There’s only four years between us… What’s with that look? Levi and Armin are happy and there’s over ten years with them.”  
  
Ymir shrugged. They were at a small coffee shop and she drank her cafe au lait slowly. “It’s just… I mean, I don’t know. If he’s that young, he probably doesn’t have much experience in BDSM… I’m not saying he’s a bad guy or anything, I just don’t think getting close to someone who doesn’t have the know-how is any good of an idea, Mar’.”  
  
Marco bit his lip. “Well, he was Levi’s sub.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess…” Ymir looked off to the side. “I trust Levi, but he was Levi’s sub, not his Dom. You can’t just expect to keep going with this guy and not expect problems. I don’t know what’s with you lately, you’ve gotten all gushy with him and it’s frustrating.” She glanced at him and frowned. “You’re not thinking with your head. It’s worrying me. I don’t like it. Instead of assessing the danger you have with him you’re all walking on sunshine as if you’re falling in love with Jean or something.”  
  
Marco slowly sipped his coffee.  
  
Ymir stared at him.  
  
Marco’s cheeks flushed.  
  
“Oh God, no,” Ymir groaned. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. “You’re falling in love with him?”  
  
“Well…” Marco smiled wide. “He’s really sweet, and I mean that. He gets me flowers and kisses me goodnight and good morning every day… and he’s great at cuddling, like amazing at cuddling.”  
  
Ymir grunted loud and felt the bile rise in her throat. “Cuddling, really? What’s wrong with you?” She leaned forward and her eyes narrowed. “You’re taking a risk here. Being a sub means you give up control. That’s not a good idea on its own. I mean yeah you got your safe words and you’re practicing safe, sane, and consensual, but things go wrong. Jean’s not experienced enough for you to be considering this. You’re happy that you cuddle together? Your limbs go numb while you sleep and pretend to be dead for eight hours a night together, and you think that’s a reason to take a risk? It’s just a stupid sleeping arrangement.”  
  
“It’s not,” Marco dangerously lowered his voice.  
  
Ymir leaned back and sipped her latte.  
  
“Cuddling is more than just that, Ymir. It makes or breaks a relationship. It’s being close to someone, being intimate and caring, without sex. I mean it could lead to sex, but it doesn’t have to. You can’t base a relationship off sex, it’s never going to work.”  
  
“Relationship,” Ymir repeated. “You’re signing a contract. You’re not going for a relationship. You’ve fucking lost it, Marco. You’ve been my best friend for years, if you think I’m just going to let you walk yourself into a bad idea, I’m going to smack you.”  
  
“I love him.” Marco stared at her. “And if you don’t approve of me having feelings for my Dom, then I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”  
  
Ymir sighed. She rubbed her shoulder and pursed her lips. “Look, Marco… if he makes you happy, then be happy. I don’t know Jean that well. I don’t know him at all. He sounds like an alright guy, Armin and Levi both like him to… so that’s a plus. I’m not worried about him, okay? I’m worried about you. Doms and subs, we don’t look for love. We look for companionship; and, sometimes, not even that, just temporary company. You’re aiming high, really fucking high, and if you miss your target you’re in for one fuck of a painful fall.”  
  
Marco looked at his lap and then scratched the side of his head. “So, what should I do? What would you do?”  
  
“What would I do?” Ymir thought about it. “If I were you I’d cut all contact with him as fast as I could. Cuddling is enough to make me feel sick about it. But, Marco… I’m not you. If I was, I guess maybe I’d make a mistake. You know me… I make tons of mistakes, and only learn from half of them. You like him?”  
  
“Yeah,” Marco nodded.  
  
“He treats you right?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“There.” Ymir sighed. “That’s your answer. I don’t like it… but if he makes you happy then he makes you happy. I’m still disgusted at your cuddling bullshit. It’s gross.”  
  
Marco smiled wide. “One day you’ll change your mind about cuddling.”  
  
“One day I’ll mix your drink with my tampon.”  
  
Marco gawked and shuddered.  
  
Ymir smirked in victory. “At least then you could feel the disgust you make me feel when you get all sappy about that cute cuddly bullshit.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Ymir’s eyes opened. She felt something incredibly warm and looked down to see long blonde hair. Krista’s head was pushed into her chest. She had her arm around the blonde. She nuzzled the soft hair and smiled. “Well…” She chuckled. “Ironic, that I dreamed about that… Maybe you’re right, Marco.”  
  
Ymir became aware of her nudity, and Krista’s, and was a little surprised not to be poked by morning wood, but hey that was just one thing she was going to have to learn to live without.  
  
Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath. She smiled. She slept well. She kissed the top of Krista’s head before slipping away.  
  
Ymir moved off her bed. For decency’s sake, she grabbed her underwear and put it on before she headed out of her room and into the short hallway. She made a turn into the kitchen and stretched her arms up high as high as they would go. “Mmmm,” she brought them down and shifted her upper body to one side for stretches, then the other. “Damn, been a while since I slept that well.”  
  
She took a seat on the stool, remembering the night they had before.  
  
A feral little grin formed on her face.  
  
Krista would be staying over for a whole weekend, maybe more.  
  
She grinned wider, then paused, then froze.  
  
I love you.  
  
Those words were said, with the F-word inserted, but they were said nonetheless last night. She leaned her arms on the counter and pursed her lips. They only knew each other for a month. A month was way too early. Was it? She glanced and saw her phone on the counter. She grabbed it and tried to turn it on but it was out of batteries.  
  
She slipped off her stool and walked back to the bedroom. She silently walked to the bedside table and plugged in the charger.  
  
Her eyes drifted to the bed.  
  
Krista had a soft smile on her face as she was curled up with the bed sheets.  
  
Ymir smiled.  
  
A month was too early… but…  
  
She turned around and headed back into the kitchen.  
  
She realised her entire month had been about Krista.  
  
Annie and Levi were dealing with the new sale in Rivaille; she only bumped into them on occasion. Erwin and Hanji were both getting ready for their trips. While Marco, her closest friend, was in Europe for his new fashion line. Ymir reminded herself to check her emails since he wouldn’t text her with international costs. As she hopped up on the stool again, she realised everyone in the community was busy. Meanwhile, she had spent the past month with only Krista, really.  
  
  
 _“Doms and subs, we don’t look for love.”_  
  
  
 _“I fucking love you.”_  
  
  
Ymir ran a hand through her hair. “Maybe it would just be best if… I left the community, entirely.” Ymir looked down. “Maybe for a little bit, until I figure out what I want with Krista?” Was it even love? Real love? Probably not, she realised. It was too soon. It was probably a crush… She bit her lip. But, was it worth the risk?  
  
“Ugh,” she groaned, “I don’t fucking know.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Hot water ran all over her body. Ymir was threading her conditioner through the thick strands of her dark hair before she dunked her head under the shower stream. She washed it out and looked at her feet for a while.  
  
The door opened.  
  
Ymir’s eyes narrowed. She went into high-alert mode. She yanked back the shower curtain.  
  
Krista blinked. “Wow, you’re out to kill.”  
  
“Oh.” Ymir blinked back. “Sorry, forgot you were here.”  
  
Krista mock pouted. “And I thought I left an impression.”  
  
Ymir snickered, “Maybe.” She watched Krista move towards her and she moved back to face the water, closing her eyes. “I’m just finishing up here.”  
  
Krista slipped in behind her and hugged her from the side.  
  
Ymir snickered and kissed her once.  
  
Krista kissed back and smiled. “Stay for a bit.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Showering together, for purposes other than sex, was somewhat of an alien thing for her. Ymir eventually dried off and both of them grabbed new sets of clothes. She realised she forgot to do the laundry in her flurry of food making last night so she slowly folded clothes on her bed. She knew Krista was watching T.V. or dicking around or something relaxing and Ymir felt her chest squeeze. Maybe this was a glimpse of what being domestic was like?  
  
There was a metallic rustle.  
  
Ymir frowned.  
  
It happened again.  
  
Ymir realised it was the door and thought nothing of it. Her friends generally barged in whenever. She was cool with it. She realised Krista probably didn’t know, so she finished folding a pair of nice dark blue jeans Marco had given her and put them in the drawer. She walked down the hall to the kitchen, and paused.  
  
Oh shit.  
  
“Ah…” Armin was butt-naked, bent over the kitchen counter, arms tied together. “You must be Kris, Ymir’s boy-g-gir-girl… friend.”  
  
Krista blinked twice. “Krista,” she corrected.  
  
Armin swallowed hard. “Hi…”  
  
“You’re Armin, right?”  
  
“Yeah…”  
  
Ymir looked between the two of them and she felt her lungs collapse.  
  
Oh shit.  
  
 _“Sorry.” Ymir wasn’t sorry. “Anyway… if he’s going overseas, why is he only going for two weeks? You’d think he’d want to do some travel, look at international fashion and all that shit, right?”  
  
“Well, actually he’s going for this big Euro fashion show thing,” Jean explained from the other end of the phone call, “He said he might catch a couple deals, but he’s gotta come right back to finish his big project… or whatever. I really do listen but I don’t really understand half of what he says when it comes to clothes. Oh, and he said, if he wanted to go travel he’d take me along for a longer trip.”  
  
“Awww,” Ymir cooed. “Your disgustingly cute and perfectly happy relationship aside, why the fuck are you calling me?”  
  
Jean laughed. “Well I figured if you’re bored the three of us can fool around. You know, Armin, you and I. I think you’re the only chick Armin’s down for getting down with.”_  
  
Oh shit.  
  
 _“It’ll be next month-ish? I’ll let you know.”  
  
“Nah, no need.” Ymir shrugged. “Honestly, just barge right in. I don’t care. Marco has a spare key to my place anyway.”_  
  
Oh… shit.  
  
Armin glanced at her and smiled. “Ymir!”  
  
Krista turned her head, expression completely blank.  
  
“Hey…” Ymir felt her organs fail.  
  
“Hey Ymir,” Jean called as he came back in the room. Where he had gone was a mystery, but he put down a riding crop on the desk and smacked Armin’s ass.  
  
“Ow.”  
  
Jean glanced to her. “Got food?”  
  
“Um…” Ymir felt her throat tighten.  
  
“Jean,” Armin whispered, “Could you untie me?”  
  
“Untie you?” Jean snickered and bent over on top of Armin. “Why would I do that? Especially after I worked so hard to tie you up, right?”  
  
“That,” Krista started, “Is a very good question.”  
  
Jean jumped up and silently shrieked as he heard a voice he didn’t recognise. He made eye contact with Krista and forced a smile. “Oh, shit! Sorry!” He turned to Ymir. “A friend? You have a friend over? I didn’t know you had friends! Marco’s your only friend!”  
  
“Girlfriend,” Krista corrected.  
  
“Girlfriend?” Jean blinked then looked at her. “Oh! Kris, right?”  
  
“Krista.”  
  
“Krista,” he repeated and relaxed. “I’m Jean! I heard you managed to land a date with Ymir. My boyfriend told me Ymir hasn’t gone on a date with anyone since the eighth grade.”  
  
Krista raised an eyebrow at that.  
  
“Anyway I’m Jean,” he paused, “I already said that, sorry. I’m a Dom, not Armin’s though. Haven’t had a chance to meet Ymir’s new sub everyone’s talking about yet though, so it’s nice to finally meet you.”  
  
Ymir’s eyes narrowed. “Jean. Get out. Leave. Go. Now.”  
  
Jean blinked twice. “What? Why?”  
  
“Jean,” Armin wiggled, “Untie me.”  
  
Jean quickly worked the ropes, frowning in confusion. “So… Krista. How long have you been in D.s.?”  
  
Krista tilted her head. “D? S?”  
  
“Yeah, Domina–”  
  
“—Disjunctive Syllogism!” Ymir shouted, striking her hand through the air out of urgency. “Disjunctive syllogism.”  
  
Jean and Krista both stared at her.  
  
There was a pause that lasted an eternity.  
  
Armin wiggled free and quickly grabbed his clothes. He tugged them on quickly and yanked Jean’s wrist. “Let’s go. Now.”  
  
“Yeah.” Ymir growled, “You, off. Go. Now.”  
  
“But she’s your sub,” Jean blinked.  
  
“Girlfriend!” Ymir shouted.  
  
“Yeah,” Jean frowned, “I got that.”  
  
Armin winced and shoved Jean hard. “Just a girlfriend!”  
  
“Huh? What do you mean—Oh. Oh shit!” Jean screamed like a girl. “I didn’t know she dated normal people!”  
  
“Just shut up!” Armin yanked the door open and shoved him out.  
  
Ymir slammed the door behind them and breathed hard. She locked it and then turned around, slamming her back against the door as if to become another barrier.  
  
Krista tilted her head ever so slightly. “D.s.?”  
  
“Disjunctive syllogism.”  
  
“That’s that thing where you say ‘I will either ski or swim, and since I didn’t ski you know I swam’, right?”  
  
“Yes! You got it!” Ymir ran forward and smooched her. “You’re so smart!”  
  
Krista raised an eyebrow. “That’s not what it means, is it?”  
  
“Nope!” Ymir admitted with a forced, loud laugh. “Not at all!”  
  
Krista was about to say something but Ymir ran away.  
  


⁂

  
  
 _ **Moon (4)**_  
  
For the most part, the rest of the day was awkward. Ymir refused to talk to her for almost two hours and then it took a bit of time to slowly go back to the way things were. Krista realised it wasn’t something Ymir would want her to push, so she pretended it didn’t happen. They had gone out for dinner that night and the both of them shared several laughs, and soon they lived and let live. Or at least Ymir did. Krista’s mind was racing out of utter confusion… and curiosity.  
  
It wasn’t normal to just tie someone up and bend them over and just leave them in another person’s house.  
  
D and S.  
  
She opened her laptop and searched up abbreviations for those two letters.  
  
‘Dead Space’ was the first suggestion; it sounded interesting so she clicked it, however that was an area within a weapon’s range but could not be fired at due to obstacles in the way. That seemed unlikely.  
  
‘Digital Spy’ was next, also unlikely.  
  
‘Dual Screen’, meaning the Nintendo handheld gaming console was also listed, but she doubted that.  
  
‘Don’t suck’, which was gaming slang came fourth.  
  
‘Death Star’ was fifth. Star Wars was probably not what she was looking for.  
  
She pursed her lips and opened a small search box. She typed in ‘Dom’ and the page jumped to ‘Domain Server’. She frowned and hit next: ‘Domenic Scarlatti’—she recognised the name, an Italian Opera Composer… or something along those lines. “Come on,” she muttered. She hit next again.  
  
‘Dominance and submission’.  
  
Krista blinked. She had no idea what that meant but she remembered ‘Dom’ and ‘sub’ being said aloud by that John guy (or whatever his name was). A quick Google search brought her to the Wikipedia page and there was an illustration of a naked female submissive begging a porn star looking aristocrat man who was crossing his arms like a porn star looking aristocrat man would.  
  
“Well…” Krista scrolled down a bit. “It explains why he was tied up and naked at least…”  
  
She read the article carefully. A few words were key—BDSM being the main one that jumped out at her, as it would have to anyone who watched as many porn videos as Krista did. It took several read-throughs to finally understand the gist of it.  
  
“So,” she spoke aloud, “Basically one person willingly gives up control and the other person takes it…” She read the words over and over before deciding Wikipedia was only scratching at the surface of what she was trying to understand; it also had a very… objective and almost scientific approach to it, which didn’t seem to explain much of the real inner-workings… or maybe that was what she thought. She half wondered if there was a Dominance and submission For Dummies out there she could buy and give it a quick read.  
  
But then she’d have to hide it from Ymir because Ymir was in total awkward ‘no that never happened I don’t know what you’re talking about’ mode.  
  
A couple more searches on Google seemed semi-fruitless but she seemed to have a firmer grasp on it. She rubbed her forehead and heard footsteps in the house. She decided to close those tabs for now and just focus.  
  
“Hey,” Ymir popped in the living room, “I’m kinda hungry. Want a dessert snack thing maybe?”  
  
Krista’s eyes widened. “Brownie pancakes?”  
  
Ymir snickered and crossed her arms. “Okay, but don’t expect me to make it every day. Those are a lot of work… or at least as lot of work for me since I screw up a lot.”  
  
Krista laughed lightly and smiled. “I’ll just make it up to you tonight.”  
  
Ymir gave a feral grin before heading back into the kitchen.  
  
Krista turned back to her laptop and paused. “So…” She tilted her head. “If this is the kind of thing Ymir likes, then maybe…”  
  
She had an idea.


	8. 8: Moon (5)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if all goes well, this fic will be done in fifteen chapters. That means we've officially hit the halfway point! Q.Q I'm so proud of all of us. <3

* * *

 

 

“Seriously? You’re telling me this now?”  
  
 _“I’m sorry honey.”_  
  
Krista rolled her eyes. She knew damn well her mother was not sorry. She moved some hair out of her eyes and sighed. “Well, thank you for letting me know at least.”  
  
 _“Don’t get snippy with me, Historia, your father and I work very hard and we are here for business, as you know.”_  
  
“Oh that’s right, business,” Krista chided, “Or maybe it’s those opera tickets you bought. Wasn’t it _Tosca_? It’s Puccini week, isn’t it? Should I check our family account online? To see what else you’re going to? Should I see that, huh? Maybe then I’ll see just how business your damn trip is.”  
  
 _“Ah…”_  
  
Krista glared at the wall as she waited for a reply over the phone. “Fine. Whatever. Have fun. Thanks for letting me know, but for fuck’s sake, mother, stop treating me like a child who is an utter idiot, who can’t possibly know about all the money you’re spending to get drunk; and, while I’m at it, you’re lucky I haven’t told father about your affair with our gardener. Our gardener, mom. He’s not even nice looking!”  
  
There was no reply besides anxious breathing.  
  
“What are you even after him for? He’s not good looking, he’s not charming, he’s not very interesting unless you count his hobby in taxidermy, and he has no money, no real skill, nothing that you usually go for in a man. My only theory is that he’s got to be good with his fucking dick!”  
  
 _“H-Historia! Do not talk to me like this!”_  
  
“Don’t talk to you like what, mother?” She squeezed her phone in her hand. “Don’t talk to you like you’re cheating on dad with some sleazy man who we’re paying too much. You take advantage of the fact that I don’t have a job to force me in the garden and clean up after his mess so you can keep your shitty stupid affair going! I’m tired of your _shit_ woman! Stop. Fucking. Lying to me!”  
  
 _“It’s… complicated, Historia.”_ There was a pause. _“Listen… you’re right… my relationship with your father is failing… But, for once, we’re having fun together here. I’m enjoying his company for the first time in ten years, Historia… so, that’s why. That’s why we’re staying here for another week. I’m not pushing my luck, but damnit I’m going to save my marriage if I can and don’t you dare guilt me for it, Historia!”_  
  
Krista relaxed and sighed. “Okay.”  
  
 _“Okay.”_  
  
“Thank you for being honest, and…” She bit her lip. “Good luck.”  
  
 _“Thank you… I’m sorry.”_  
  
“It’s okay.”  
  
 _“Goodbye.”_  
  
“Bye.” She pulled her phone away from her face and swallowed hard. She hit the end call button and looked down. She bit her lip, pushing her weight onto one leg as she hugged her arm.  
  
“Hey…”  
  
Krista’s head perked up and she turned around.  
  
Ymir was sitting on a high stool at the island counter in her kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal. “Everything okay?”  
  
Krista swallowed hard and nodded twice. “Yeah. Maybe. Not really… Well, things aren’t okay, but they will be. It’s just a waiting game until then, I guess. Um…” She moved some hair out of her eyes. “My parents say they’re going to be staying at New York for another week, but that’s okay—I’ll pack my things, get out of your hair and all that.”  
  
“You’re so stupid.” Ymir laughed. “Geez, you can stay here babe.”  
  
Krista blinked. “Really?”  
  
“It’s cool… I like you being here, you know?”  
  
“Oh…” Krista grinned and walked over to the counter. “I said I would be gone on Monday, it’s Tuesday now so I didn’t want to push my luck or anything.”  
  
“You’re fine,” Ymir chuckled. “I work five days a week though, so you’ll be home alone for a bit.” She hopped off her stool and walked over to a drawer. She pulled it out and jimmied something. “Catch!”  
  
Krista yelped and caught something cold, metallic. She blinked. “Keys.”  
  
“Yeah the big one’s for the front door, the blue thing is to get up the elevator, just wave it at the light. Small one’s for the garage. If you’re going to stay here, you can have my spare. Well, my other spare, I guess. Marco’s got my actual spare. But, anyway, yeah… I’m not going to trap you here or something. You can come and go all you want.”  
  
Krista grinned and nodded. “Thanks!”  
  
“Anyway,” Ymir pouted. “I gotta head to work…”  
  
Krista pouted as well.

⁂

  
  
When Ymir had gone off, Krista distracted herself for a while before she got insanely curious. She knew it was technically snooping, but if Ymir was into that D/s thing, Krista wondered if maybe she’d have a couple things stashed away… and Krista guessed right. She opened one of the drawers to find all kinds of sex toys… most of which she had no idea what the hell they were, but it made her laugh and her cheeks warmed.  
  
One thing she did know – because it was obvious – was a long rope. She guessed it was for bondage.  
  
Her research had told her about BDSM, and what each letter stood for. It should have been BD-Ds-SM, but it was condensed: The BD meant Bondage and Discipline, Ds meant Dominance and submission, while SM meant Sadomasochism. Krista didn’t know how she felt about the whole SM bit, but she figured she could start small.  
  
She hopped on the bed and sat cross-legged, with her laptop in front of her. “How to tie yourself up,” she said aloud as she typed it in.  
  
To her surprise, there were lots of results.  
  
She clapped her hands together before scrolling through the results.  
  
She found one in graphics interchange format, more commonly known as a GIF (or as Ymir pronounced it just to piss her off: “Jif”). She grabbed the rope, and figured she could tie her arms behind her back if she followed the instructions.

⁂

  
  
“I’m home,” Ymir called out.  
  
Krista grinned. She used her feet to slide her laptop underneath the pillows and happily waited. She had undressed herself and her arms had been tied together rather elegantly. The sandy brown rope was a little rough, but she didn’t mind it. It had taken several hours to get the whole tying self-up bit right, but she was proud of her efforts (even the part holding her wrists together was a little weak, she would just pretend otherwise).  
  
“Yo, Krista?”  
  
“I’m in your room!”  
  
“Aight.”  
  
Krista wiggled a bit in her place, hearing the footsteps come closer and closer.  
  
The door opened and Ymir stepped in. “Hey, I thought we could maybe or… der…”  
  
“Hello, Ma’am. Welcome home.”  
  
Ymir visibly shivered from the words, but she stayed silent—stunned.  
  
Krista waited patiently. A full minute passed.  
  
“No.”  
  
“I’m sorry, Ma’am?”  
  
Ymir rubbed her throat. “No. No.” She shook her head. “I’m not doing this.”  
  
“What?” Krista blinked. “Why?”  
  
“Because—No! Just, just no!”  
  
“Why are you yelling?” Krista puckered her lips.  
  
Ymir’s eyes went wide and she looked away, scratching the back of her head. “Sorry. I’m sorry… just,” she took a deep breath, “Just…” She crossed the distance and her hands quickly worked out the ropes. “Look, this isn’t something you can figure out your own—Whoa.” She paused. “These are some cool knots… Where the hell did you learn them?”  
  
Krista couldn’t help but chuckle, even if it felt out of place. “Girl Scouts.”  
  
Ymir backed away and stared at her right in the eye. “Girl Scouts taught you how to tie yourself up? The fuck?”  
  
“No!” Krista closed her eyes as laughter spilled from her lips. “Google taught me how to tie myself up! Girl Scouts just taught me the different knots.”  
  
“Oh.” Ymir relaxed. “Thank Fuck…” She finished undoing the knots and pulled the rope away, eyes lingering over Krista’s nude form for a second before she shook her head. “Look… I know after Jean and Armin… But, I just, want to put that part behind me.”  
  
Krista rubbed her wrists, feeling a slight burn, even if the rope had been loose. “Why?”  
  
“It’s stressful. It’s hard work…” Ymir’s eyes glanced to Krista’s hand. “And that’s not rope you’re supposed to use on skin. There are different materials and… just, a lot to know.”  
  
Krista blinked. “I had no idea…”  
  
Ymir looked away. “It’s not just ropes or tying people up, there’s a lot of safety procedures. It’s not just freaky kinky sex… BDSM is just… It’s not easy being a Dom, Krista. It’s just a different mindset, and it’s not something I want to be in anymore.”  
  
“I’m sorry.” Krista dipped her head. “I didn’t realise it was that big of a deal.”  
  
“It can be… It can also not be. It’s just, hella complicated, okay?”  
  
Krista grinned. “Hella?”  
  
“Don’t make fun of me.” Ymir grinned. “But the thing is… If you rush into things like this, it’s dangerous, for you, for me, and for once I have a relationship… something meaningful that doesn’t have to deal with that danger, that danger of hurting someone, going too far… Doms maximise safety for their subs, but every once in a while something goes wrong, for both parties. I just, really don’t want to deal with that anymore, okay?”  
  
“Okay.” Krista nodded.  
  
“Great.” Ymir forced a smile. “I’m gonna go out, I think… I need some air.”  
  
Krista’s eyes widened. “Ymir–”  
  
“No, don’t worry.” Ymir pushed a finger to her lips. “I’m not mad at you, or upset or anything, I just need a bit of air I think. You’re great. Afterwards, we can order some food and watch movies together, okay?”  
  
Krista felt something warm inside her and she nodded. “Okay.”

⁂

  
  
“Yo, Historia.”  
  
Krista rolled her eyes. “Are you gonna keep calling me that?”  
  
“It’s fucking funny.” Ymir jabbed her side.  
  
Krista eeped and wiggled away.  
  
Ymir cackled.  
  
Krista glared.  
  
It was Thursday. Two days had passed since the incident; they had gone relatively well. A little uncomfortable at first, but that seemed to melt away with ease. They spent most of their time in the kitchen and living room, not that there was much distance between the two, but they made do with what they had. They had been eating out quite a bit, which was nice, and fantastic considering Krista was never allowed to eat from such ‘trashy’ places that were also the local hotspots.  
  
“Anyway, Historia,” Ymir cackled some more, “I’m hungry. What do you want to get?”  
  
“Going out again?” Krista tilted her head. “I’m sure we can make something here.”  
  
Ymir shrugged. “I don’t feel like cooking.”  
  
“I don’t feel like going out,” Krista admitted. “We could order delivery…” She grabbed her hairband off her wrist and quickly tossed her hair up into a ponytail.  
  
“Damn.”  
  
Krista blinked. “Huh?”  
  
Ymir snickered. “Nothing, you just look nice… Historia.”  
  
“Stop!” Krista chuckled. “It’s my legal name, don’t make fun of my legal name, that’s rude…”  
  
Ymir stuck her tongue out. “It’s a nice name, though.”  
  
“Um… is it?”  
  
“Yeah. Well, I like it.”  
  
Krista smiled softly and nodded before she walked off to the fridge. She pulled it open and scanned the contents. “I could make something small… won’t be impressive, but…”  
  
“Food is food, babe.”  
  
Krista grinned and leaned back; holding onto both fridge doors with her hand, she threw her head back to look behind her. “You have no idea how happy it makes that you’re so easy to please.”  
  
Ymir chuckled and gave a meek little shrug. “Eh, I got a gorgeous blonde bombshell wanting to make me food. I don’t have a reason to complain.”  
  
Krista pulled herself back up and began taking some things out. “Do we have bread?”  
  
“Mhm.” Ymir pointed to the side.  
  
Krista turned around then followed the point to see sliced bread. “Awesome, I’ll make a B.L.T., that cool for you?”  
  
Ymir tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms. “Hmm, not supposed to eat meat on Thursdays… Ah fuck it, I’m not turning down bacon.” She grinned. “Sure.”  
  
“Not supposed to eat meat on Thursdays?” Krista tilted her head to the side in return. “Why?”  
  
“Uh, well, it’s sort of a family thing?” Ymir shrugged. “I think it was part of my ma’s religion before she stopped giving a shit. You’re supposed to be vegetarian once a week… Something about respecting the animal and making sure you limit how much meat you eat or I don’t even know. We used to do it on Tuesdays, but that’s when my sister and I had dance class, so we were fucking starving and some cabbage and rice wasn’t going to cut it.”  
  
Krista giggled as she placed several things on the counter, some lettuce, a tomato, sliced cheese, bacon, mayonnaise and some turkey cold cuts. “Well that sounds like a good idea.”  
  
“Healthy too.” Ymir took a seat across from Krista on the island counter. “I’ve been trying to do it, but ever since I moved out I forget half the time. That and I just fucking love meat.”  
  
“Oh God, me too,” Krista tried not to moan.  
  
Ymir chuckled.  
  
Krista grinned as she grabbed the sliced bread. She had gotten used to the fact that Ymir ate enough for two people, and she knew she was gaining weight with how much she was eating but for once she could honestly not give a shit. She grabbed a knife and added a small amount of light mayonnaise on each piece before washing the knife and cutting a tomato with it.  
  
“Hey…”  
  
“Yes?” Krista sliced the tomato. She wasn’t given a reply right away so she paused, looking up. “Ymir?”  
  
Ymir covered her smile with her hand and her shoulders shook with her silent laughter.  
  
Krista raised her eyebrows for a second before she shrugged and kept slicing the tomato. Another thing she learned was that Ymir was fucking weird, and she loved it. She put a slice of tomato on four pieces, then opened up the cold cuts and placed a couple pieces on them. Next was the sliced cheese, sharp white cheddar, and she hummed as she put it on.  
  
Ymir eventually burst into roaring laughter.  
  
Krista couldn’t help but chuckle; the laugh was somewhat infectious. She opened the package of bacon and grabbed a frying pan. It didn’t take long before the bacon was sizzling on the pan, but the sound was drowned out by the laughing. “What the hell is so funny?”  
  
Ymir had her forehead on the counter as she laughed herself off to the next plane of existence.  
  
“You’re such a fucking weirdo,” Krista said affectionately. She used a pair of metal tongs to flip the bacon, waiting until Ymir’s laughter faded. “Are you going to tell me?”  
  
Ymir took several seconds to compose herself before she hopped off her stool and walked over to the fridge. She grabbed her water pitcher and poured into a small cup, body shaking with the aftershocks of laughter.  
  
Krista rolled her eyes and brought the pan to the counter.  
  
Ymir drank the cold water and eventually put the cup down. “I just found it funny because you’re making me a sandwich.”  
  
Krista frowned. “So?” She used the tongs to place the bacon on a cutting board. She put the pan aside and grabbed a knife, slicing them in half. “Sandwiches are funny?”  
  
“N-No. It’s like, that thing straight guys say, ‘Make me a sandwich’, you know?”  
  
“Oh.” Krista placed the bacon pieces on the sandwiches. “So?”  
  
Ymir began laughing again.  
  
Krista shook her head. “Okay it’s a little funny, but not that funny.”  
  
“But,” Ymir interrupted herself with a snort, “It’s just, you’re the first woman I’ve ever dated, so I can finally say it now!”  
  
Krista chuckled and kept shaking her head. “You’re something, babe.”  
  
“A woman’s place is in the kitchen!”  
  
Krista rolled her eyes.  
  
Ymir began roaring with laughter again.  
  
She turned the eight pieces of bread into four sandwiches and put them back on the pan, and put the pan over the element. “I really don’t see what’s so funny…”  
  
Ymir calmed down a bit and leaned on the fridge. She wiped a tear out of her eye and took deep breaths. “I don’t know, okay? It’s just funny because I’ve always had guys say that to me, and I’m just ironically saying it to you because we’re both women.”  
  
“I know we’re both women,” Krista reminded.  
  
Ymir snorted.  
  
“You’re so easily amused, geez.” Krista turned to her. “So, those guys that told you to make them a sandwich, how did you reply?”  
  
“I kicked ‘em in the nuts.”  
  
“All of them?”  
  
“Yeah.” She nodded. “All of them.”  
  
Krista nodded as well. “So, what should I do if you tell me?”  
  
Ymir paused.  
  
Krista kept her glare.  
  
Ymir just snickered and put her hands under Krista’s underarms before pulling her up.  
  
Krista screamed and wrapped her legs around Ymir’s upper body. “Ymir!”  
  
“You’re so sexy when you threaten me!” Ymir chuckled and brought the blonde down just enough to smooch her face.  
  
Krista chuckled and shook her head. “You’re so fucking weird…”  
  
Ymir pretended to be upset.  
  
Krista giggled and kissed her nose. “Never said it was a bad thing.”


	9. 9: Sun (6)

“No… No, it’s not fair.”  
  
Ymir frowned, holding her closer while she mentally agreed. It had gone by too fast, way too fast.  
  
“It’s so not fair.”  
  
Ymir ran her hand through blonde hair and smiled.  
  
“I don’t want to go.”  
  
She chuckled.  
  
“What’s so funny?”  
  
“Nah, nothing, it’s just you’re acting like a total kid, you know that?”  
  
“Yeah…”  
  
“And it’s pretty effin’ cute.” Ymir eventually sighed and untangled her limbs from the blondes. “Come on, we gotta wake up, Historia.”  
  
Krista pulled away as well and paused. She moved some hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear and she tilted her head. “Why?”  
  
“Because you gotta head home before your parents.”  
  
“No I mean… why, the uh… Why?”  
  
Ymir blinked. “Huh? Why what?”  
  
“Why do you use that name?”  
  
She only needed a couple seconds to think about it before she leaned over and kissed Krista’s cheek. “Because I like it.”  
  
Krista didn’t reply right away; in fact, she didn’t say anything for the next hour.  
  
Ymir felt an internal cringe, wondering if she did something wrong.  


⁂

  
  
Just how it went from being Tuesday to next Monday so damn quickly was lost on Ymir. She switched lanes on the bridge, feeling Krista’s arms around her waist. The roar of her motorcycle was the only sound as they crossed the red bridge that separated North Crescent from Downtown. When she entered the rich municipality, she took a small shortcut and eventually the Reiss household came into view. She sighed as she slowed down and eventually kicked down her stand.  
  
Krista hopped off and took off her helmet. “Hey… wanna come in?”  
  
Ymir took off her helmet as well and grinned. “Why not?”  
  
Krista smiled again and nodded. “Come on, don’t just stand there.”  


⁂

  
  
It was the second time she had been in the Reiss household. Last time, which was hard to believe was almost thirty days ago, she’d only been to the kitchen where Krista cooked for her and they had a nice dinner together, but this time…  
  
“So, this is your room, huh?  
  
Overall it was a fairly big room. The walls were peach, covered with several band posters (none of which she recognised). There were several dressers, lamps of different sizes; off to the side there was what Ymir could only describe as a makeup station, equipped with three mirrors, endless brushes, color swatches, mascara, eyeliner pens, combs and something else which she had no idea what the hell it was. Krista’s bed was queen sized, with pink bedsheets and a white duvet, with at least twenty pillows and several stuffed animals.  
  
Ymir chuckled.  
  
Krista took a seat on her bed and looked around. “What do you think?”  
  
“Hmmm.” Ymir playfully crossed her arms and tilted her head. “It doesn’t exactly say ‘I’m a drunk bar singer who dyes my hair black every weekend’, but hey I like it. It’s still you.”  
  
Krista’s cheeks warmed and she got up. “Well thanks.” She stuck her tongue out and moved to the window. She pulled away the curtains and opened the window, feeling a gentle breeze come in.  
  
“Damn.” Ymir stepped forward. She swore she could see the entire endless blue ocean. “Nice view.”  
  
“Yeah.” Krista nodded. “I like that part… It’s kind of the only part, really.”  
  
Ymir slipped her arms around Krista’s waist and leaned her head on the girl’s shoulders. “Are you going to be okay here?”  
  
Krista paused and then kissed Ymir’s cheek. “Yeah. I think I will probably be a little bit sad, to tell you the truth, but we’ll still see each other often… I just wish I could see you every day.”  
  
“Text me whenever, babe.”  
  
“I will,” she promised with a smile.  
  
Ymir grinned and squeezed her. “Hey, you still got my spare key? My other spare key?”  
  
Krista nodded and reached into her pocket. With the metallic chings, she pulled it out. “Here.”  
  
Ymir rolled her eyes. “Keep it. You can drop by whenever, you know? You big blond dumbass.”  
  
“Hey!” Krista chuckled. “But okay… if you say so.” She squeezed the keys then smiled. “I’m not going to walk in to see a blond boy all tied up on your kitchen counter, will I?”  
  
Ymir cringed and pulled away. “No!” She had hoped Krista would have dropped it, but… “Just forget about it, okay?”  
  
Krista laughed and spun around. “But, I shouldn’t be worried, should I?”  
  
“Worried?”  
  
“That you got your boys on the side who can come in whenever they want.”  
  
Ymir scratched the back of her head. “Nah, that’s just… some other kinky stuff I agreed to when I was single. Jean’s gonna give my keys back to Marco, so there won’t be any more of that, I don’t think.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
Ymir tilted her head. “You don’t trust me?”  
  
“I do,” she admitted. “I guess I’m just confused by what I don’t understand. I know you don’t want to talk about it… but I still don’t understand what I saw. I… I mean it’s up to you, but I would like to think I deserve some kind of explanation, right?”  
  
Ymir tilted her head, realising Krista was probably right. “Well… Okay, so… Um. There’s like a community, a local one that’s into this kind of stuff. In there, I’ve got some of my really good friends, including Marco. Well, Marco was my friend before we got into D.s. uh… Well we met in preschool, actually. He’s my best friend.”  
  
Krista tilted her head. “Wow, that long ago?”  
  
“Heh.” Ymir scratched her nose. “It’s kind of funny. I was such a little shit as a kid… When we were supposed to build things with blocks, I would make something and it was bad ass but I finished before everyone else… so I would go around break everyone else’s things.”  
  
Krista’s jaw dropped. “Ymir!”  
  
“I was four!” She raised her hands in defense. “Anyway… so I got a reputation when I was little that Ymir was a bad kid, yadda yadda. Marco… even though I made him cry like five times because I called him fat—And he had so much baby fat, like more than you can imagine Historia! His baby pictures are so cute! B-But yeah, anyway, so he was this little angel who realised I had no friends and he kind of came over and we talked and played together and yeah he was like my only friend throughout most of my life.”  
  
“So how does this relate to Dominance and submission?”  
  
Ymir blinked, a little startled that Krista new the terminology… or at least some of it. “Well, flash forward to when we were eighteen, seven years ago, I ended up getting into Dominance and submission. Marco had the tendency to come over whenever he wanted, and I did the same thing to him, so he was used to seeing shirtless or naked guys just tied up for his viewing… Eventually, three years after I joined, he got into D.s. and flash forward again, he met Jean.”  
  
“That’s the guy who had Armin tied up?”  
  
“Yeah. So Marco and Jean are a thing now.”  
  
Krista frowned. “But then why was he with Armin? He was cheating on your best friend and you just stood there?”  
  
“Well that’s what I’m trying to explain; see, we’re a moderate sized community but I have some really close friends there. So, Marco’s off in Europe for a couple weeks, that’s why Levi lent Armin to Jean to keep him company.”  
  
“Levi.” Krista stared at her. “Like, Rivaille?”  
  
“Yeah. Shit.” Ymir pursed her lips. “He doesn’t want his neighbours to know about the whole D.s. thing, so just hush hush on that, okay?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
“Yeah, so, uh… Levi is Armin’s Dom, and Jean is Marco’s Dom, but yeah they’re close… mostly because Jean and Marco were also subs for Levi for a while, oh God this is getting complicated.”  
  
“No, I understand. Sort of… But, what if Armin doesn’t want to be with Jean? He won’t be forced because he’s a sub?”  
  
“Levi would never force his sub to be with anyone they didn’t want to be. Trust me, Levi’s almost territorial on what’s his. As for Arm’, well Armin does want to fool around with Jean.” Ymir chuckled. “Don’t worry those two get along really well. Marco and Jean share a lot of kinks and Armin and Levi share a lot of kinks… but Jean and Armin get into some real kinky stuff, like stuff I’m not even gonna consider even after seven years of that stuff. But, anyway, the main part is that everyone is happy and they’re all consenting. So, Jean and Armin like to drop by ‘cause the three of us are freaky like that… Except when they made the plans, I didn’t have a girlfriend. Now I do, so, yeah… But, okay, I know I shouldn’t laugh, but, shit, Historia, the look on their faces…”  
  
Krista snickered. “I think yours was the worst!”  
  
Ymir scratched the back of her head. “You’re probably right.”  


⁂

  
  
Ymir never wanted to pout so much in her God damn life, but as she stepped down the endless stairs of the Reiss household, she sighed. She got to the bottom and forced a smile before she turned around and gave Krista another, last, wave.  
  
Krista waved back.  
  
Ymir chuckled and grabbed her helmet. She put it on and lowered the visor. She was happy her face was hidden. She kicked up the stand of her motorcycle and revved it up, letting it come to life beneath her. “Easy girl.” Ymir suddenly paused. “Oh hey, I’ve been riding a girl for years. No wonder I’m a lesbian.”  
  
She began driving.  
  
She didn’t go fast. She only moved down the road, down the small hill and rolled up to the house at the end of the road. She glanced and figured she was already in the area so… She pulled over to the side, turned off the engine, and kicked down her bike stand. She hopped off and took off her helmet, putting it in a small compartment.  
  
Ymir ruffled her own hair and walked up the couple of steps to the wooden-framed blurry glass double door. She rang the doorbell twice and almost took a step back when the door flew open.  
  
“Ymir!” Hanji screamed as she tackled her. “It’s been so long!”  
  
Ymir quickly caught her footing, holding a firm stance to keep herself up from the force. She winced, closing one eye as she chuckled. “Hey Hanji. Yeah… it has.”  
  
Hanji backed away and clapped her hands excitedly. “Come on in!”  
  
Ymir chuckled and did as she was told. She leaned down to undo her leather boots and stepped out of them, hearing the door close behind her.  
  
“We’ll serve drinks!”  
  
“You know, Hanji,” Ymir said in a teasing tone, “This isn’t your house.”  
  
“Might as well be!”  
  
“Fair enough.”  
  
The two of them walked down the hall and soon they entered the living room. Ymir’s eyes moved to Levi first, since this was his house, and he gave a little wave. “Hey.” Her eyes drifted around the room, catching sight of Erwin and Annie as well. “What? A party at Levi’s and no one wanted to tell me. Where are your subs?”  
  
“Armin’s in the kitchen now.” Levi glanced in that direction before looking back to Ymir. “My other one has been removed from the household… and the community. I never thanked you for the heads up on that.”  
  
Ymir just gave a little bow. “As long as it was cleared up before things got bad. So why is everyone here anyway?”  
  
“I’m here for work,” Annie explained.  
  
“Yes.” Levi smirked. “We’ve gotten so much work done.”  
  
Annie snickered.  
  
“I believe that would be my fault.” Erwin extended his arm, motioning for Ymir to take a seat. “I dropped by unannounced.”  
  
Ymir took her seat. “And Hanji?”  
  
“Well,” she took a deep breath, “Levi’s house is my house; his doors are always open to me.”  
  
“No they aren’t.” Levi scowled. “My doors are fucking locked and bolted to you, four-eyes.”  
  
Ymir snickered. “Nothing’s changed, I see. It’s been a while."  
  
Levi smiled. “It has. Do you want a drink?”  
  
“Water’s fine.”  
  
Armin stepped in the room and smiled. “We have tea.”  
  
Ymir’s head snapped to the side and she _glared_.  
  
Armin literally jumped back and defensively crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
“I’m gonna hit you, Arlert! Don’t even look at me!”  
  
“I’m sorry!” Armin bowed.  
  
Levi, Erwin, and Hanji all raised their eyebrows in perfect unison.  
  
Armin raised himself and pouted. “It wasn’t my fault!”  
  
“Nah, you’re right… It wasn’t.” Ymir cackled. “I just fucking love seeing you scared. What kind of tea?”  
  
“White chai.” Armin smiled. “Let me guess, latte?”  
  
Ymir snickered. “Am I that predictable? You caught me.”  
  
Armin nodded politely and turned to the kitchen.  
  
Levi crossed his leg and stared at Ymir. “Something happen?”  
  
“Well, uh, yeah. A little. Sorta.”  
  
Annie snickered.  
  
Ymir glared at her. “Don’t tell me Jean told you.”  
  
Annie shrugged. “Jean tells me everything.”  
  
“That bastard.”  
  
Annie tilted her head. “I’m curious though… How did she react?”  
  
“Who?”  
  
“Your Blondie.”  
  
Ymir scratched her nose and chuckled. “Pretty good? She’s cool about it, didn’t freak out.”  
  
Hanji patted her knees twice. “What happened?”  
  
“Hanji,” Erwin said in a stern tone.  
  
“Erwin,” Levi sighed, “I don’t see why you bother. She’s hopeless.”  
  
Hanji gasped. “Levi!”  
  
“What?”  
  
“You’re so mean to me, Leevee!”  
  
“Of course I am! I hate children!”  
  
Hanji pretended to look upset before she burst into laughter. “Anyway! Ymir, what happened?”  
  
“Well…” Ymir rubbed her face. She already had to revisit the memory for Historia, now this. “Uh, while Marco’s in Europe…” She suddenly paused and glanced towards the kitchen. “Why is Armin here? Isn’t he with Jean?”  
  
“Marco’s flight has been moved,” Levi explained, “He’s coming back today instead of tomorrow.”  
  
Ymir frowned. “He didn’t tell me?” She checked her phone and then laughed. “Oh he totally sent me an email. Oops.”  
  
Armin came back holding a mug of tea and offered it to her.  
  
Ymir took it with thanks and took a sip. “Mmm, damn this is good stuff. Anyway, yeah… So Armin was with Jean…” She took another sip and glanced to Armin.  
  
Armin got what she wanted from him and he cleared his throat. “While Marco was in Europe, Levi leant me to Jean, and uh about a month prior Ymir and Jean made some plans in advance…”  
  
“Which I… forgot about,” Ymir admitted. “Then I started dating someone, and that person was over at my apartment when they came over.”  
  
Levi chuckled. “But I figure they would be fine with it. You always train your subs well.”  
  
“Well, um… Not a sub, like I’m dating a normal person.”  
  
Hanji tilted her head. “Eh?”  
  
Annie tucked some hair out of her eyes. “I’m surprised, apparently she was cute.”  
  
Erwin raised an eyebrow. “She? I thought you were heterosexual, I’m sorry. If I had known you were into women I would have offered you more subs to choose from.”  
  
“Uh well I am heterosexual,” Ymir laughed. “Well, was… It’s all sort of new to me, but the sex is great like holy shit she is a Goddess of Orgasms. She’s like a female Levi.” It was only then that she noticed the tense silence that Levi was giving her. “Uh…”  
  
“So,” Levi finally spoke. “How are you going to introduce the idea of BDSM to her?”  
  
“Well,” Armin chimed in, “I think I introduced that idea just fine.”  
  
Annie snorted.  
  
Levi rolled his eyes. He patted his knee once.  
  
Armin walked over and took a seat in his lap.  
  
Levi hooked his arm around Armin and leaned in, stealing (or taking since he was a Dom) a short kiss.  
  
Ymir chuckled. She couldn’t help but notice how cute Armin was in Levi’s lap. She silently wondered what Historia would be like as a sub… A subtle smile formed on her lips, but it faded. “I really don’t uh, I don’t plan on doing anything BDSM with His-Krista.”  
  
Levi looked at her. “Oh.”  
  
Erwin frowned. “Levi, that sounded rather ominous.”  
  
“Yeah,” Annie agreed. “Kind of scary.”  
  
Hanji nodded three or eighteen times.  
  
Levi sighed. “I’m just… curious, sort of. We’ve known each other for six or seven years now, Ymir. Honestly, I would like to think we know each other relatively well. I’m not pushing for anything, I don’t have any ulterior motive, but tell me… do you think you could live without even some aspect of BDSM in your life?”  
  
Annie frowned. “Levi…” She felt a small touch on her arm and turned her head.  
  
Erwin just nodded to her.  
  
Annie looked at Hanji for someone to agree with her but Hanji just smiled back.  
  
Ymir scratched her cheek, thinking it over. “I don’t know. I mean, you have a point. I think you’re right. But ‘some aspect’ doesn’t mean it has to be heavy. I mean, Jean and Marco are pretty light, and Annie and Mikasa are pretty episodic, right?”  
  
Annie nodded.  
  
“So, I don’t think I need anything heavy in my life. But, I know what you mean, and uh… I guess what I want to say, Levi, is… It doesn’t mean I have to have it now, or even anytime soon. You’re right, I probably couldn’t live without BDSM… And not just because the actual stuff is fun, but all my friends are in the community.”  
  
Levi tilted his head. “And your… girlfriend, is that the right word?”  
  
“Yep.”  
  
“Your girlfriend. Do you enjoy being with her enough to put BDSM aside for a while?”  
  
“Yeah.” Ymir was a little shocked at how easy that was. “I like her. I really do. I like her more than…” She trailed off and took a sip of her tea. “Sorry. I just dropped by, I didn’t mean to gush or anything like that.”  
  
“It’s fine.” Levi glanced to the side. “Anything is better than Hanji.”  
  
Ymir snorted.  
  
Hanji gawked.  
  
Erwin shook his head.  
  
Annie’s eyes, however, kept on Ymir. “You really like her, huh? It’s… actually kind of cute.”  
  
Ymir sputtered. “Shut the hell up!”  
  
Erwin snickered.  
  
Hanji cackled.  
  
Annie laughed.  
  
Even Armin joined in.  
  
“Shut up! All of you!”  
  
Levi chuckled lightly.  
  
Ymir gasped. “No! Not you too!”  
  
Levi gave a small shrug. “Sorry. It’s just funny… and strange, to see you so… infatuated with someone. I never thought I’d see the day you’d develop a little crush, especially not on a girl, but seeing you all high school girl over her is equally as interesting.”  
  
Ymir chugged the rest of her tea and put it on the table—without a coaster—and stood up. “Screw you guys. I’m leaving now!”  
  
“Alright.” Levi offered a gentle smile. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”


	10. 10: Moon (6)

“I love not working,” Krista realised as she walked down the street. It was a busy day, cars rustling and bustling, everyone making noise. The sounds of birds chirping. She ran a hand through her hair and smiled. “I wish I lived downtown,” she blurted out.  
  
She had just come back from meeting Ymir for ‘Coffee’. They met at a coffee shop, realised neither one of them was hungry or thirsty, so they just took a walk together, talking about stupid things and just enjoying each other’s company.  
  
It was nice.  
  
Really nice.  
  
A tad on the domestic side, which was a little weird for both of them, but it was nice all the same.  
  
Luckily she was heading to Sasha and Connie’s place, which was also downtown. She was going to pick up groceries and the three of them could make a meal together. It had been a while since she’d seen them with how often she was staying at Ymir’s so she was looking forward to it.  
  
Finally, she thought, things were turning up. Things were going good. She stepped into the shade and looked up to see a massive skyscraper, at least fifty or sixty floors, and she paused for a minute as she looked up, just impressed by its size.  
  
“Excuse me!”  
  
Krista looked down to see a freckled and cuuuute man running down the steps.  
  
“Excuse me, ma’am! Are you in a hurry?”  
  
“Super cute,” Krista whispered.  
  
“Sorry?”  
  
“Ah, uh, hi, don’t worry about it. Um, no I’m not. How can I help?”  
  
A second man ran down the steps as well, he was much shorter and she recognised him instantly—Levi Rivaille. “Don’t mind us. We’re homosexuals.”  
  
Krista blinked. “What?”  
  
Levi pulled out measuring tape. “Straighten your spine.”  
  
Krista did as she was told and was quickly measured height wise. The freckled man measured her waist and she just put her arms to her side, letting them do whatever they wanted to do.  
  
“She’ll fit,” Levi said simply.  
  
Krista tilted her head. “Fit what?”  
  
The taller man dropped to his knees. “We need a model for our photo shoot! The one who was about your size can’t make it, got stuck on a ferry delay and we just don’t have time because the camera guys are really pricey.”  
  
Krista glanced to Levi then smiled at the man on his knees. “Sure.”  
  
He got up and dusted himself off. “Thank you so much, ma’am! We’ll pay you in cash and thank you! Thank you!”  
  


⁂

  
  
“You’re good with makeup.”  
  
Krista blinked as a blonde girl with shaggy hair sat in front of her. “Thanks.”  
  
“It’s kind of a shame I have to take it all off.”  
  
Krista tilted her head. “Why?”  
  
“The lights we use are on the blue side, so everyone looks all clammy.”  
  
“Yo,” a third voice called out as a man stepped closer. “Hitch, you have less than ten.”  
  
Krista looked at him. “Jean.”  
  
Jean took one look at her and screamed. He instantly ran away.  
  
Hitch raised an eyebrow. “The fuck was that?”  
  
“We’re… friends.” Krista offered a crooked smile.  
  
Hitch chuckled and grabbed a couple makeup remover wipes. “Hold still.” She wiped some of Krista’s foundation off and got to work. “That definitely sounds like a friend.”  
  
Krista offered a peacekeeping smile.  
  
“Don’t do that,” Hitch warned. “Keep your face neutral.”  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
“It’s cool. I just gotta rush so bear with me.”  
  
Krista stayed silent.  
  
“I’m glad you scared Jean off, though,” Hitch muttered while she worked. “I need him out of my business right now. I don’t have time to do anything but focus. He shouldn’t even be here anyway.”  
  
Krista blinked. “So why is he here?”  
  
“Ah he’s Marco’s emotional support. Marco gets all stressed and shit.”  
  
Krista stared at her. “Marco’s here?”  
  
Hitch put the makeup wipes down and grabbed a foundation that was a little warmer than Krista’s skin colour. “You came in with Marco and Levi.” She paused. Her amber eyes narrowed. “How do you know them?”  
  
“Ah, well, uh we have a mutual friend, Ymir.”  
  
“Ymir has friends?” Hitch backed away and rubbed a wide brush on the foundation. “Didn’t know that.”  
  
Krista’s eyes widened. “You know her?”  
  
“Love her, hate her,” Hitch chuckled before she started applying the foundation. “We have a mutual cat fight status going on.”  
  
Krista laughed—  
  
“Don’t. Don’t move your face.”  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
Hitch offered a wry smile before putting the foundation aside. She grabbed the eye liner and got to work. “But yeah, the guy with the cute freckles is Marco, Ymir’s best friend, and Jean is his Dom-Do-Do-D-Dumb, dumb boyfriend.”  
  
“Dom.”  
  
“Oh.” Hitch grinned. “You’re in the community?”  
  
“No. I just know some stuff, from Ymir.”  
  
“You know…” Hitch put the eyeliner aside and grabbed the mascara. “I’ve been wondering where Ymir’s been lately. She didn’t come to the last munch, was kind of sad.”  
  
“Munch?”  
  
“Yeah, a munch is like… a kind of community get together, dinner-thing.” She moved her hands away. “There.” She cocked her head to the mirror.  
  
Krista looked, expecting something amazing; it was amazing, just, “I’m so red.”  
  
“It’s for the camera,” Hitch reminded. “Three shades warmer for everyone, regardless of skin tone. When we take pictures you’ll look great. Let me just apply something to make sure the makeup sets and doesn’t smudge when you change clothes.”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
It didn’t take long before she was sent on her way. With the instructions to inform Marco, Krista got up and joined the others in the center of the large square room.  
  
Jean sighed. “Marco, enough coffee.”  
  
“Never enough.” Marco began chugging his cup, until a hand clasped his shoulder.  
  
Eyes narrowed, Levi glared. “Stop. That’s an order.”  
  
Marco put the cup down on a glass table. “Yes Sir.”  
  
Jean pouted. “I’m so jealous.”  
  
Krista chuckled and stepped forward. “I’m ready.”  
  
Jean screamed and ran away.  
  
Marco blinked about four times.  
  
Levi crossed his arms. “What was that?”  
  
Krista forced a smile. “We know each other.”  
  
“Great.” Levi pulled out his phone and flicked it open. “Looks like the camera guys are late.”  
  
“Good.” Marco sighed. “Gives us more time.”  
  
“Hmm.” Levi clearly did not share his positivity on the matter.  
  
“Levi…”  
  
“Don’t worry.” He looked at Marco. “I’ll deal with it only if it’s an issue.”  
  
Marco nodded. “Okay.” He looked at Krista and offered a smile. “Thanks for this.”  
  
“Any time,” she said with a smile.  
  
“So, we’ll be doing the other models first; the girl you’re replacing always goes last. That gives you a chance to watch and sort of see what we’re doing and all that first.”  
  
“Sounds good.” Krista nodded. “So is this for a magazine?”  
  
“Yeah.” Marco bit his lip. “It’s a magazine in France, actually, so we have to get our own camera crew and makeup crew – I’m so glad Hitch was free today, I don’t know who else I could have asked – but yeah, we have to get our own people and send it over. It’s a big deal for me.”  
  
“Are you a fashion designer?”  
  
“I am, yeah.”  
  
“A breakthrough in Paris would be big.”  
  
Marco nodded. “My career would be set if I can dip into international market. But the deadline for this magazine publication is approaching, twelve days, if I don’t get it in on time it’ll be set on the next volume and I’d be losing a lot if I did that just by publication release dates and all that.”  
  
Krista couldn’t help but grin. He was a polar opposite to Ymir as far as she was concerned. “You’ll do fine. Just relax.”  
  
Marco took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.” He grabbed his coffee cup.  
  
“Marco!” Jean screamed from across the room.  
  
Krista couldn’t help but laugh, but she was distracted by a beep and buzz in her pants. She pulled out her phone.  
  
 _» yo u coming scumbag?_  
  
Krista laughed again and quickly replied  
  
 _—I’m so sorry Sasha! I got caught up in a  
photo shoot but I’ll be there for dinner  
  
» photo shoot?? ?? ????  
  
—Yeah my girlfriends best friend apparently  
needed a model for his fashion photo shoot  
thing and I saw his clothes they are sooo  
cute!  
  
» hot damn K you’re a goddess of beauty I  
cant wait to see you in paper!  
  
—Actually its for France apparently  
  
» holy shit babe nice!!  
  
—Yeah! But like I said I also met my girlfriends  
best friend and I also met Rivaille… like the  
Rivaille damn he’s short and really scary :S  
  
» Yeah Levi’s really scary, but he’s a good person._  
  
Krista paused. The scariest part was the proper punctuation in the text.  
  
 _—You know him?  
  
» yeah… But its like super complicated  
between us.  
  
—Should I tell him you say hi?  
  
» NO  
  
—Oh okay  
  
» SRSLY DONT OKAY?  
  
—I won’t! Don’t worry.  
  
» Ok sheesh heart attack in the afternoon  
  
» Wow heart attack in the afternoon,  
sounds like a band name  
  
» Connie and I are gonna start a band called  
Heart Attack in the Afternoon, ft. History  
Teacher Catherine Alexandra Christine XXI_  
  
Krista just stared at her phone.  
  
 _—Not even close Sasha  
  
» I tried  
  
—No you didn’t.  
  
» no i didnt_  
  
Krista chuckled but looked up when she heard noise.  
  
 _—Okay they’re starting, I’m gonna text you  
later okay? I’ll be there for dinner don’t  
worry.  
  
» Kay girl go look stunning!_  
  


⁂

  
  
“Okay.” Marco turned to Krista. “You’re up.”  
  
“Actually,” one of the camera men said, “It’s been three hours, so we’re going to pack up.”  
  
Marco frowned. “You got here at twelve thirty, it’s only three. We have half an hour left.”  
  
“You reserved us from twelve to three, we gotta go.”  
  
Marco frowned. “We paid in advance for three hours.”  
  
“It’s three, we gotta go.”  
  
Krista frowned.  
  
Jean crossed his arms.  
  
“Look,” Marco said in a firm voice, but he stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
  
Levi patted Marco’s shoulder twice and stepped closer. “Did anyone reserve you from three to another time?”  
  
“No, but we have to be in Paval by four thirty so we gotta get out.”  
  
“Traffic and all,” another added.  
  
Levi cocked his head to the side. “It takes an hour to get to Paval from downtown, thirty if you use the highway and take the exit to the bridge, which I am assuming you would go. You are in no rush. You got here at twelve thirty and took fifteen minutes to set up. You wasted forty-five minutes of pre-paid time and you want to leave early?”  
  
“Look,” the third one said, “We’re not leaving early. This is all you have for us so we have to go and get stuff done.”  
  
Levi offered a smile. “Scott, Jane, and Riley,” he read their name tags. He pulled out his phone and tapped a few things. He put his phone to his ear and waited. “Hey, Deborah? It’s Levi… I’m great, how are you?”  
  
All three of them froze.  
  
“That’s wonderful… Yes I did call concerning your henchmen, or shitmen I should say, or shitpeople considering one’s a woman and political correctitude is important… I am quite dissatisfied, actually, yes… Well they got here at twelve-thirty instead of twelve… Yes, they did… Well my problem is they’re convinced that since it’s three, and we booked from twelve to three, they’re free to leave.” Levi’s eyes glanced to them. “Thank you, Deborah, you’re wonderful… Yes, you too. It’s my pleasure.” He turned his phone off and put it back in his pocket.  
  
Two seconds later, Scott’s phone went off. With a shaky hand he reached in his pocket and pulled it out. “H-Hello?” He winced. “Yes… Okay… Understood… Okay. Okay. Bye.” He turned off his phone and swallowed hard. “We’re giving you an extra hour.”  
  
Levi crossed his arms. “Lovely. Let’s get to fucking work. Your time might be worthless but mine isn’t.”  
  
“Holy shit,” Krista whispered. “What a beast.”  
  
Jean snorted and nodded. “He really is, huh?”  
  
Krista glanced to Jean and nodded. “It’s kinda hot.”  
  
“Oh yeah.” Jean grinned. “He’s got friends in high places and he knows how to tickle me down low.”  
  
Levi looked over to them. “I can hear you two.”  
  
“Sorry!” they both shouted.  
  
Marco laughed. “Well I don’t disagree, Sir, but Levi’s right let’s get moving.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Krista went on for thirty minutes; she was a bit surprised by how hot the lights were, they almost melted her makeup by the end, but luckily they aimed a fan at her to make her hair flow, which cooled her down. She was given an unopened bottle of water when she was done and a pat on her shoulder. She quickly chugged it and went to join Jean in the back. “Hey.”  
  
Jean looked at her, visibly tense. “Hi.”  
  
“So.”  
  
“So…”  
  
“Can I…” Krista tilted her head. “Ask you a question?”  
  
“About what?” He winced.  
  
“About BDSM.”  
  
“Oh God, no, not here.” Jean bit his lip.  
  
“I want some answers, though.”  
  
“L-Look, you should just ask Ymir.”  
  
“But–”  
  
“Nope!” Jean hopped off his stool and walked away. “Nope! Nope! Nope!”  
  
Krista pouted.  
  


⁂

  
  
Several days passed and she found herself in the Reiss household. It was a Sunday, but Ymir was busy with her own family the entire weekend so she had spent it alone. She was on the balcony, leaning on the railing. She was pondering why it was always the ‘Reiss household’, why not house? Why not home? Her parents were back, and they were more agreeable than before but still annoying. She sighed, looking over the street when she saw a blond run by.  
  
Armin.  
  
That gave her an idea. She dashed out of the house, ignoring her parents as she ran down the stairs and opened the front door. She didn’t bother closing it behind her and she ran to the middle of the street. Armin always ran forward and back, so if he had just run by the house…  
  
She tapped her feet on the ground and waited. She took a stance, legs six inches apart, arms at her side. She was ready.  
  
It took several long minutes, but eventually was running towards her. He noticed her instantly and slowed down to a halt. “H-Hey,” his breathing was heavy from his run.  
  
“Hey.” Krista offered a smile. “I wanted to talk.”  
  
Armin winced. “I don’t think that’s a good idea…”  
  
“About BDSM, and what happened.” Krista scowled. “Now!”  
  
Arming screamed and started jogging in place. “I’m running now, bye!” He ran past her and headed home.  
  
Krista looked over her shoulder and brought a finger to her lip. “Was I too forceful?”  
  


⁂

  
  
It was Monday.  
  
This time, she was equipped.  
  
Hair tied up in a ponytail, a sleeveless white shirt, sports bra, short shorts and white runners. She was jogging in place when Armin ran by.  
  
“I’m running now, bye!” He ran faster.  
  
“Me too!” Krista shouted before she rushed over and caught up to him.  
  
Armin tried to sprint faster, but Krista held up. “Shit, you’re fast!”  
  
“I was on the track team for five years!” She chuckled. “I can sprint!”  
  
Armin meeped and kept running.  
  
After a what felt like at least an hour (which was actually less than ten minutes), Armin hit the halfway point and stopped.  
  
Krista fell to her knees and breathed heavy. “Holy shit… I haven’t ran in forever!”  
  
Armin chuckled and nervously scratched his head. “Yeah. It’s hard work, but you have to build stamina. Stamina’s good for running.”  
  
Krista looked up. “And good for sex.”  
  
Armin screeched and started running away from her.  
  
Krista sighed.  
  


⁂

  
  
Krista had run for ten minutes. And she decided she never wanted to run again. She half pondered trying again next week, but decided that was too long. She skipped Tuesday because she was sore (just how out of shape was she? Maybe she should start running…), but Wednesday she waited for Armin. He never came and Krista remembered he only ran five times a week.  
  
That’s when she decided, fuck it.  
  
She undid her ponytail and fluffed up her hair before combing it with her fingers.  
  
She casually walked down the street and approached a house. With a small smile, she hit the doorbell and waited.  
  
It didn’t take long before the door opened.  
  
Armin looked at her.  
  
Krista looked at him.  
  
Armin screamed and slammed the door shut.  
  
Krista slumped forward with her hands aimed down. “Rude!”  
  
The door opened.  
  
“Oh.” Krista straightened her spine. “Mr. Rivaille.”  
  
“Levi’s fine.” He looked at her and his steel blue eyes narrowed. “Can I fucking help you?”  
  
“Yes, you can, actually…”  
  
Levi looked over his shoulder then to her. “Jean and Armin both screamed on sight at you… Should I be concerned.”  
  
“No.” Krista shook her head. “I’m harmless. I just want to come in for a drink, if that’s okay… Sir?”  
  
Levi pursed his lips and shrugged.  
  
She half wondered if he too just decided ‘fuck it’.  
  
“Fine.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Krista was seated down in their living room and she looked around. She nodded in appreciation of the decor; it was simple and elegant, not over the top like the other half of North Crescent. Armin had asked her if she wanted tea, and she said sure. She heard some rustling in the kitchen and he eventually came out with two cups.  
  
“Here.” Armin offered.  
  
Krista took it with a small ‘thank you’ and smelled it. “Oh this smells nice! What is it?”  
  
“It’s a white chai latte, which is like white tea but with the masala blend of spices.” Armin smiled before he offered a cup to Levi.  
  
“Thank you.” Levi, who was sitting across from her, crossed his legs and took it, glancing to Krista. He waited until Armin was gone. “White Chai… it’s expensive, actually. Obviously I don’t care about the money, but I’m wondering why Armin would use something like that for you. I figure you’re someone I should give a shit about?”  
  
“Historia.” Krista moved her hair out of her eyes. “But I go by my middle name, Krista. Krista with a ‘K’.”  
  
“Krista.” Levi paused and it was obvious that gears were turning past his eyes. “Kris-ta. I see. Ymir’s girlfriend.”  
  
“Yes, Sir.”  
  
“Small world.” Levi took a sip of his tea. “And how can I help you, Krista? Actually. First. Answer me, how did you find me, exactly?”  
  
“Well, we’re neighbours actually.” Krista sipped her tea and tried not to moan. “Historia Reiss-Lenz, from the Reiss family, the annoying couple, mom’s a bitch, dad’s an ass… Actually that describes the whole neighbourhood.”  
  
Levi snorted. “I’ll agree with you on that, but yes, I know the Reisses. So that’s how you found me? Through them?”  
  
“Armin runs by every morning so I recognised him when Jean bent him over Ymir’s table.”  
  
Levi rubbed his face. “Ah. I’m putting pieces together. Well, I’ve never met the daughter of the Reisses before, so I suppose this is the first.”  
  
“Technically this is our second meeting,” Krista reminded with a smile. “First thing you said to me was ‘Don’t mind us. We’re homosexuals.’ if you recall.”  
  
Levi smirked and put his mug down. “I do. Judging from how you met Jean and Armin…”  
  
“First impressions are a strange thing for me.” Krista laughed and crossed her legs.  
  
Levi chuckled and sipped his drink. “Well this is definitely something. How can I help you, Krista?”  
  
“Dominance and submission.”  
  
Levi paused for a second, blinking once, twice. “And how much has Ymir told you?”  
  
“Not too much…” Krista looked at her tea latte. “Most of it is online, to be honest.”  
  
“That’s not entirely reliable,” Levi muttered. “It’s good. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either.”  
  
“Apparently,” Krista sighed.  
  
Levi looked at her.  
  
Krista felt somewhat prompted to speak so she sighed again. “I tried to get a little… frisky with Ymir, in the way she would like, but…”  
  
Levi pursed his lips. “What happened?”  
  
“I tied myself up to surprise her, and she just… said no.”  
  
“Have you done anything that touched BDSM before with her?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“With anyone else?”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
Levi sipped his drink. “Armin.”  
  
Armin came out of the kitchen. “Yes, Master?”  
  
“Can you get me a blank contract?”  
  
Armin blinked. “You’re signing a contract with Krista?”  
  
Levi rolled his eyes. “No. I just think it can help explain.”  
  
Armin nodded and left the room to get one.  
  
Krista blinked. “Contract?”  
  
“A contract is a formal agreement on Dominance and submission. BDSM has a motto, ‘Safe, Sane, and Consensual’. It’s the most important part. This contract will help you understand.”  
  
Armin returned with one in hand and offered it to Levi.  
  
Levi took it and looked at her. “How’s your eyesight?”  
  
“Good,” she admitted.  
  
“It’s size nine font, sorry. This is what I use… It’s a massive contract. Most Doms don’t have contracts this big, some people have a page, others like Ymir are comfortable with verbal contracts. This is also geared towards Dominance and submission as a lifestyle, meaning twenty-four hours a day. Most people do episodic, or in scenes, or only during sex, which is more common.”  
  
Krista took the contract and read.

_**The Contract**  
  
This Contract establishes the Dominance/submission relationship between  Levi Rivaille and ______, from the day of _______, ___ to _______, ___. This contract is not a legal one and will not hold up in the court of law. This contract wishes for both parties to reach mutual understanding of the objectives and expectations of this Dom/sub relationship, as well as ensure the safety of both parties, hereafter termed the Dom (stylisation: capitalised) and the sub (stylisation: lower-case). This agreement must be entered voluntarily: Entering in states of intoxication or through force and lack of free will makes this agreement null and void.  
  
This Contract is written for guidance, betterment, and the benefit of the Dom/sub relationship, as well as seeking to guide, better, and benefit both the Dom and sub individually. _

Her eyes read every word, but they focused on some of the most important bits, the ones that surprised her:

_Though obedience and submission to the Dom is mandatory, the safety (both physical and psychological) of all parties involved is far more important. In the household, there are three words (safe words) that will trump any authority.  
  
“Green” means that everything is fine. The act may continue.  
  
“Yellow” means that everything must come to a pause. Something is wrong.  
  
“Red” is an emergency exit. When Red is called, consent is removed.  
  
Any violation of the safe words will call for immediate termination of the contract._

She thought submission meant just handing oneself over…  
  
The thought of safety never really occurred to her…

_I vow to never use a safe word meaninglessly.  
  
I vow to use a safe word when necessary.  
  
I vow to respect the safe words of my Dom, or any other member of the household._

Krista almost felt like an idiot—She never considered maybe the Dom would need a safe word too…  
  
She flipped page after page until she got to the end to the bit with signatures. She raised her head slowly and looked at the first page again. “Wow.”  
  
“It helps put Dominants and submissives in the mindset, I think.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“When you surprised Ymir with yourself tied up, you didn’t give her any time to adjust. Gradual changes, as slow as possible, work well. It’s also a safety hazard. And safe words. Most people use traffic lights as they are pretty well known.”  
  
Krista nodded and looked up at him.  
  
Levi looked at her and then gave a soft smile.  
  
Krista smiled back.  
  
“I can go over safety issues with you as well, if you would like?”  
  
“That would be great,” she admitted. “But, um… can I ask why?”  
  
“I guess I’d rather have everyone as safe as possible. Even if everyone means well, mistakes and accidents that could have been prevented happen.” Levi moved his hand to his side. Unbeknownst to Krista, that was where Levi had his scars.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided not to include Levi's full contract for a couple reasons. One, it just wasn't necessary. Two, it would have derailed the chapter. Three, yes this fic is independent from Tentative Bliss in terms of plot, but you can find the contract in Chapter One of TB if you're interested in seeing it full.
> 
> Other than that, TS will hopefully (if I get everything right) have 15 Chapters in all, 10 Suns and 10 Moons. So we're two-thirds there! Isn't that exciting?


	11. 11: Sun (7) & Moon (7)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, this chapter was supposed to be shorter but I took a scene that was supposed to happen next chapter and put it in here, so it's a bit longer (it flowed better), but the next one might be short. Oops! Oh well, evens out?
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

 

 

 ** _Sun (7)_**  
  
“Ilse Nilima Langnar!”  
  
“Yes, mom?”  
  
“Make sure your sister eats! She’s getting thin! And you know she doesn’t eat veggies!”  
  
“Yes, mom.”  
  
“Force feed her with a spoon if you have to!”  
  
“Got it, mom.”  
  
“Alright, we’re heading out.”  
  
“Bye, mom.”  
  
The front door closed with its usual thud.  
  
Ilse smiled to herself as she ladled the green soup into two bowls. “Isn’t it weird when they use our full names? It’s like they’re stereotypical white parents.”  
  
Ymir crossed her legs and tilted her head. “Is that a bad thing?”  
  
“Of course not.” Ilse chuckled. She grabbed both bowls and walked across the small kitchen to the checkered table. “Here.”  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
“It’s just that I’ve spent the past six months in Africa,” Ilse explained as she took a seat. “It’s just, sort of, getting used to my own culture again is weird.”  
  
Ymir used a spoon to mix the vegetable soup. She made a face. The face she made since she was little. “So, how was it? I mean besides you getting even more tanned, anything fun this time?”  
  
“Yeah.” Ilse nodded about four times. “We found some cool stuff!”  
  
“Oh, really? Like what?”  
  
“Fingernails!”  
  
Ymir frowned. “Ew.”  
  
“Not ew!” Ilse chuckled. “The bones had all turned to dust, but the fingernails, Ymir, the fingernails were perfectly intact. Preserved by the nail polish! Nail polish! The nail polish they used three _thousand_ years ago preserved it!”  
  
Ymir raised both eyebrows. “Okay. I take it back. That is pretty fucking cool. Three thousand years ago?”  
  
“Yeah.” Ilse grinned and put a spoon of the soup in her mouth. “Mmm.” She swallowed. “I miss ma’s cooking, even the veggie soup.”  
  
Ymir chuckled.  
  
“But, yeah, and it’s more than that. This is on the southern outskirts of Egypt, but nail polish was invented around the same time in China—That means either they made their own, which we can’t tell until the results came in, or that the trade route may be bigger than anyone imagined!”  
  
Ymir looked at her and forced a smile.  
  
Ilse paused. “What is it?”  
  
“Nah, nothing.” Ymir looked down. “That’s great. I love trade routes.”  
  
“Ymir… You’re shit for a liar.”  
  
“At least I’m better than ma’ is.”  
  
“A shower head is a better liar than ma’, Ymir. That’s nothing to be proud of.”  
  
Ymir laughed and shoved a spoon in her mouth. She just shrugged. “I guess, I mean I’m so happy for you and I don’t want to rain on your parade or anything like that, sis, it’s just… It’s sort of like, wow… you’re achieving so much.”  
  
“Thank you…”  
  
“And here I am, selling tea.”  
  
“That’s not bad.” Ilse smiled. “You love what you do, right?”  
  
“Well, yeah.” Ymir shrugged. “But it’s like… Maybe, maybe not… I’ve just been doing this a lot lately.”  
  
“Doing what, Ymir?”  
  
“Thinking about the future.” Ymir looked at her. “Thinking about what a waste of space I am.”  
  
“Ymir…”  
  
“I’m not even cultured for fuck’s sake. I mean, you were going on about the great food you had while you stopped by Afghanistan–”  
  
“Pakistan,” she corrected. “But I’m sure Afghanistan has great food too. I’d like to visit one day.”  
  
“Really?” Ymir smiled. “Didn’t you just said you had enough heat to last a lifetime?”  
  
“Oh God, yeah.” Ilse chuckled. “Not anytime soon. I want to suck up all the rain here. It’s going to be great. But, hey… Listen, don’t get bogged down by everything. I’m sure some things are going right, right?”  
  
“Incredibly right,” Ymir blurted out. “They’re going… _so_ right.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“I’ve got a stable job, and I have great friends, and a partner I honestly love for the first time, but it’s just I think about the future, and I mean like next week, next month, next year, next decade, I just keep thinking about this endless vast time that I’m going to be forced to live until I die, and I just get fucking scared of all the shit that can happen.”  
  
Ilse raised her spoon. “That was kind of a poetic tangent, but… Did you say partner?”  
  
Ymir snorted. “Of course that’s what you fucking focus on.”  
  
“Hey! It’s a surprise coming from you!”  
  
Ymir smiled. “Yeah, I have a partner… and she’s fucking amazing!”  
  
“She?”  
  
“Oh, uh, yeah.”  
  
Ilse tilted her head and smiled. “Wow, you never told me you swing that way.”  
  
“Apparently I do.” Ymir shrugged. “It was a big surprise to me. So… surprise?”  
  
“It’s not that big of a surprise.” Ilse snickered, ignoring the look she was given. “So… is it better? Sex, I mean.”  
  
Ymir frowned. “What?”  
  
“Well, what was it that Marco said? Guys give better head because they know what they’re doing. It makes sense, they have a dick, so they know how it works.”  
  
“Well…” Ymir raised both hands. “When I’m going down on her I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing. Lemme tell you, sis, a straight man’s fear of a vagina is a legitimate fear. I don’t know anything. It’s not like a dick, you just pretend to give it a handshake for a bit and it’s good.”  
  
Ilse covered her mouth with her hand and silently shook with laughter.  
  
“But, maybe… I mean when she goes down on me, holy fuck, yeah. I don’t know, though, but whatever I’m doing it works, so, maybe? I don’t, I don’t know.”  
  
“Well,” Ilse snorted, “That’s great. As long as it works out, I guess. So who is she? Tell me about her? What’s her name?”  
  
“Historia.” Ymir paused. “Well she goes by Krista, because she thinks Historia’s a weird-ass name or something like that. I got a pic of her, one sec.” She pulled out her phone and went into her album app. “Here.”  
  
Ilse reached over and took her phone. Both eyes widened. “Oh she’s pretty. Oh God! You two look so cute together.” She swiped her thumb across the touch screen. “Awww!” One more time. “Is that your beanie she’s wearing?”  
  
Ymir knew exactly which picture her sister was talking about. “Doesn’t she look fucking gorgeous with it?”  
  
“She does.” Ilse swiped her thumb again and then made a face. “Oops, that’s nudes. That’s nudes too. That one too. You know what…” She handed the phone back. “Just, here.”  
  
Ymir took her phone. “Oops.”  
  
Ilse rolled her eyes. “So, how long have you two been together? Have you told mom and dad?”  
  
“Haven’t really told anyone, it’s only been like… two months? Nah, more like one and a half maybe?”  
  
“Wow.” Ilse tilted her head. “That’s a new record for you, isn’t it?”  
  
“Shut up!”  
  
Ilse grinned. “So… what’s so scary about the future?”  
  
“I don’t do long term shit, Ilse.” Ymir wiggled in her seat. “It’s just not me, okay?”  
  
“Two months isn’t long term…”  
  
Ymir rolled her eyes. “I know that! I just… It’s like…” She bit her lip. “I think about long term when I’m with her. Like, I want to go up the mountain with her in fall, and go to that spot we used to have picnics at. With her.”  
  
“Okay.” Ilse nodded. “So?”  
  
“Fall!” Ymir lunged onto the table. “We’re still in spring! I’m thinking ahead!”  
  
Ilse rubbed her face with both hands. “That’s not thinking ahead!” She laughed. “Ymir, if you were planning a wedding, that’s thinking ahead; if you’re just sort of thinking, ‘Oh I’d like to do this with her someday’ that’s just sort of daydreaming about her.”  
  
Ymir sighed and moved back into her chair. “I don’t know, Ilse… I just don’t want to do long term.”  
  
“That’s a different story.” Ilse scratched her cheek. “Would you do it if… Sorry, what was her name?”  
  
“Krista.”  
  
“Would you do something long term if Krista wanted to as well?”  
  
“I don’t know, sis.” Ymir shook her head. “I just don’t know. It’s just fucking scary, okay?”  


⁂

  
  
“You know, bars are for getting drunk.”  
  
Mina just looked at her.  
  
“It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that people go to bars to get drunk. Bars are homes and shelters to the loud and the rowdy, the solemn and the depressed, the regular drinkers and the first timers. Bars are for getting drunk.”  
  
Mina blinked. “What?”  
  
Ymir frowned. “I don’t know. I just, I had this urge to say that.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“You don’t get the urge to say that?” Ymir tilted her head. “Like every time I get here I have the urge to say that, I don’t fucking know why. It’s kinda annoying.”  
  
“I don’t have the urge to say that… Ever.”  
  
“Well, anyway, bars are for getting drunk.” Ymir shrugged. “I’m at a bar, but I’m not getting drunk.”  
  
Mina tilted her head. “Are you okay?”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, but, moral of the story: Bars are for getting drunk.”  
  
“I know. I work here. I hate it.” Mina laughed as she cleaned another glass.  
  
Ymir blinked. “You do? I mean, you hate working here?”  
  
“Oh yeah.” Mina nodded. “Besides you and Krista coming in every weekend, it’s depressing. I wish I could work somewhere else.”  
  
“Oh!” Ymir smacked her hands on the wooden bar. “We’re hiring, you know?”  
  
Mina looked at her. “You are?”  
  
“Yeah! I mean, the store I work at. I’m actually working a double shift because we have so many spots.”  
  
“Oh, where do you work?”  
  
“A tea shop.”  
  
“Tea?” Mina smiled. “I don’t know anything about tea. How much is the pay?—Sorry! That’s rude. I’m not supposed to ask that, am I?”  
  
Ymir snorted. “No, that’s the important question. It’s thirteen an hour.”  
  
“Oh. That’s higher than here. It’s min’ wage, here.” Mina frowned. “Well, it’s not that bad, ten an hour is pretty good. You can put in a good word for me, to your manager?”  
  
“I am the manager.” Ymir smirked. “Well, assistant-manager, but the manager is pretty much on permanent leave, but yeah I have all the power. I can hire you.”  
  
Mina blinked. “Really? Like, actually? I don’t know anything about tea, though… You must love tea, then? I mean, I like iced tea…”  
  
“Ew.” Ymir made a face. “You mean the stuff out of the can?”  
  
“Um… yeah. Sorry.”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “I’ll make you the real stuff. It’s so much better.”  
  
Mina laughed and glanced to the stage. “Well, sorry, miss tea expert.”  
  
Ymir looked at the stage as well, watching Historia set up. “I actually got the position as a fluke. Managed to get Rivaille to do a promotion thingy with us. If they bought a pair of pants at Rivaille, they got a little free tea voucher. We lost a bit of money with all those vouchers, but it racked in a lot of recurring customers.”  
  
“Wow.” Mina blinked. “Rivaille? Oh, so you’re in the shopping centre on Flake?”  
  
“Yeah. We’re right next door.” Ymir moved some hair out of her eyes and spun a bit on her stool. “Is that too far for you?”  
  
“Oh no, that’s actually a lot closer to where I live.” Mina smiled. “That would be great. But, I’m really curious, how did you get the big Rivaille to make a deal with you?”  
  
“I’m friends with Levi.”  
  
“Levi?”  
  
“Levi Rivaille.”  
  
“Oh.” Mina looked impressed. “Wow, what’s he like?”  
  
“Well… He’ll punch you in the throat if you make a tea pun.”  
  
“Noted…”  
  
“But he’s a really nice guy, though.”  
  
“Levi Rivaille,” Mina repeated. “What kind of name is that?”  
  
Ymir laughed. “One of our friends, Armin, did some research… found out the double ‘L’ is supposed to make a ‘y’ sound, so it should be Rivai, but you’re supposed to pronounce it with an L instead of an R. So, really, his name is Levi-Levi.”  
  
“Oh geez.” Mina giggled. “That’s unfortunate.”  
  
“Yeah, he doesn’t find it funny though.” Ymir tapped her throat. “Lots of punches. Little man, big punch. But, anyway, back to tea, if you want I can put our hours together, so I can sort of… not mentor you, but show you the ropes for a bit?”  
  
“That would be great!”  
  
“Awesome.”  
  
“Would you…” Mina trailed off and looked at the stage. “Oh, she’s starting!”  
  
Ymir looked at the stage and smirked. “That’s my girl.”  


⁂

  
  
“Hey, Ymir.”  
  
“Hm?” She moved her laptop out of her lap and felt a certain little blonde take its place. She chuckled and closed her laptop with one hand before putting her arms around her girlfriend. “What’s up?”  
  
Krista smiled and made herself comfortable in Ymir’s lap.  
  
They were both sitting on her bed.  
  
“I wanted to talk about Doms and subs.”  
  
Ymir tensed and she took a deep breath. “Historia, babe…”  
  
“I know. I wanted to apologise.”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow. “For what?”  
  
“Well…” Krista moved some hair out of her eyes. “When I tied myself up for you, I didn’t really give you time to switch mindsets, and we didn’t talk about safety or safe words, and we didn’t talk about… anything, at all, beforehand. So I put you in a position where you knew you could easily hurt me, and you reacted badly.”  
  
Ymir swallowed hard. “Okay, so which porn sites have you been reading?”  
  
Krista laughed, a laugh light and airy, a laugh that made Ymir’s heart flutter. “I figured the internet is good, but it’s not great, and there are so many ways to do Dominance and submission that there was no way I could find your way of doing it.”  
  
“Uhuh…” Ymir looked at her suspiciously. “Go on.”  
  
“So… I just ended up asking Levi.”  
  
“Levi?” Ymir blinked. “What? Why? Where? When? How? Is there another one? I feel like there’s another one.”  
  
“Who.” Krista smiled. “But that would be Levi, so you’re good. You got them all.”  
  
“Oh, go me. Now answer.”  
  
Krista chuckled. “Well, I know you and Levi are close friends, and I know he lives down the street from me, so I just said hi to him and Armin and we talked, and he explained it to me. I understand it a hell of a lot better now, and I wanted to say I’m sorry, Ymir. I put you in an uncomfortable position.”  
  
Ymir blinked a couple more times before she smooched her girlfriend. “Ah, you couldn’t have known or anything… It’s cool.”  
  
“I still feel bad…” Krista bit her lip. “And, I uh, you know… wanted to say, I want to try some D.s. with you.”  
  
Ymir sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Why? Why can’t we just be normal?”  
  
“Well, for one, you’re very domineering in bed.” Krista chuckled. “You take control, and it’s… exhilarating, honestly.”  
  
“I do? It is?”  
  
“Yes…”  
  
Ymir thought about it for a moment. “Well, it’s not like… overly domineering, is it?”  
  
“No, not at all. Sometimes it’s kind of… not enough.”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow.  
  
“But I understand.” Krista slipped out of Ymir’s lap and crossed her legs. “You need your time and you need to put yourself back in that headspace and I’m not ever going to force you or prompt you or anything. But, just know that I want to do it. We don’t have to do it now, or anytime soon. And we can talk about it. We can talk a lot about it, okay?”  
  
Ymir blinked about fourteen more times. “Okay.”  


⁂

  
  
 ** _Moon (7)_**  
  
Krista was in the softness and the warmness and the amazing cuddly feels of amazing awesome snuggle time when the fucking piece of shit phone starting screeching like a crow cawing for no God damn reason. It went on and on, loud and blaring. Krista’s eyes snapped open. “Shut the fuck up!”  
  
Ymir’s body beneath her shook with laughter as she chuckled. “Sorry babe.” Ymir forced her eyes open and grabbed her cell phone. She slid her finger across the screen and the noise stopped. She brought it to her ear. “You better be bothering me for somethin’ fucking important.”  
  
Krista nuzzled Ymir’s shoulder and was content with life again. She tugged some bed sheets over her and all was well with the world.  
  
“I don’t give a fuck,” Ymir admitted. “You’re gay and waking me up is a bad idea regardless if you’re gay or not… I know it doesn’t make sense… Okay, okay, whatever, what do you want?” Ymir paused. “The fuck?… The fuck?… The fuck?”  
  
Krista snorted. “Sounds like a nice conversation.”  
  
“Shut up!” Ymir stuck her tongue out. Her eyes drifted to her phone. “Sorry. Not you. I’m talking to my girlfriend… Yeah, that’s her… Um… Okay?” Ymir handed her the phone.  
  
Krista blinked and took it. She brought it to her ear. “Hello?”  
  
“Hi, sorry for waking you up!”  
  
“Um, okay. That’s fine… who is this?”  
  
“Marco! From the photo shoot?”  
  
“Oh.” Krista sat up. “Hi, yeah. What’s up?”  
  
“I hope you don’t mind, but Levi said this would be the best way to reach you. Do you think you could model for me again today?”  
  
Krista realised if Marco was Ymir’s best friend, she probably needed to get in his good books. Plus, he was cute. And nice to look at. Really nice. “Sure! What time?”  
  
“It starts at eleven, but you’ll be going last so you can get here a little late probably.”  
  
“Eleven?” Krista rubbed her face. “What time is it now?”  
  
“Well, ten thirty.”  
  
Krista swung her legs off the side of the bed and got up. “Okay. I’ll get ready.”  
  
“Wait. Seriously?”  
  
“Yeah, sure.” She moved her hair out of her eyes. “I just have to shower, but I’ll be there as fast as I can.”  
  
“I love you, oh my God!”  
  
Krista laughed. “Love you too, but I can’t take this phone in the shower with me. Same place?”  
  
“Same place! Thank you, thank you!”  
  
“Bye!”  
  
“Bye!”  
  
Krista smiled and looked at Ymir. “Catch!”  
  
Ymir let her phone fall on the bed sheets and she slipped out of bed. “The fuck?”  
  
Krista walked to the bathroom, hearing Ymir’s footsteps behind her. “I have to model.”  
  
“For Marco?”  
  
“Yes ma’am!” She turned the knobs of the shower and tested the waters. “But I have like thirty minutes to get there. You can come too if we hurry.”  
  
“Huh. Okay.” Ymir shrugged. “I’ll look like shit, but I’ll be clean.”  
  
Krista grinned. “Yeah, they have to put on makeup and give me clothes, so I can just shower and wear something comfy and go.”  
  
“Awesome.”  
  
Krista stepped in the shower.  
  
Ymir stepped in behind her and closed the curtain. “When did you meet Marco?”  
  
“Um.” Krista looked up at her. “Last week? Or something. I don’t know.”  


⁂

  
  
When the elevator doors opened and they stepped in, Krista felt her chest squeeze. The camera guys were already set up. “Are we late?” She checked her phone. Ten fifty-five. Technically early.  
  
“Don’t worry.” Levi stepped forward. “They got here early to set up. Isn’t that nice of them?”  
  
Krista giggled. “I’m sure they did it out of the kindness of their hearts.”  
  
Levi scoffed a laugh. “Good to see you again.”  
  
“Yeah.” Krista nodded. “You too.”  
  
Levi looked at Ymir and gave her a little nod. He looked over his shoulder. “Marco’s with Jean right now. You two should go see them.”  
  
Krista nodded. “Okay.” She stepped forward, knowing Ymir was following her. She reached up and tapped Marco’s shoulder.  
  
Marco turned around and instantly hugged her. “You’re my saviour.”  
  
Krista laughed and hugged him back.  
  
Jean sighed. “Oh geez, Marco… Focus.”  
  
Marco let go of her. “Right. Right. Hitch!”  
  
Hitch looked up from her phone. “Yeah?”  
  
“Krista’s here for you.”  
  
“Krista!” Hitch stepped forward.  
  
“Hitch.” Krista nodded.  
  
“Bitch,” Ymir corrected.  
  
Hitch looked past Krista and grinned she ran across the room and practically tackled Ymir. “Ymir!”  
  
Ymir winced but caught her footing. “Oy. Get off of me, you useless sub.”  
  
Hitch jumped off. “Oh come on. It’s been like four months,” her voice was light and playful.  
  
Ymir rolled her eyes. She eventually glanced at Marco. “Hope you don’t mind I dropped by.”  
  
Marco grinned. “I haven’t seen you in three weeks.” He hugged her instantly. “I missed you.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah…”  
  
Marco pulled away. “I have stories, but not right now. Work now. Stories later.”  
  
Jean sighed. “He’s been doing nothing but working since he got back.”  
  
Marco couldn’t deny it. “I’m short on time. Hitch.” He turned to her. “Can you do Krista’s makeup now?”  
  
“Yep.” Hitch took Krista’s hand. “Leave it to me. Come on.”  
  
Krista nodded. “Okay.” She didn’t mind getting pulled away from the rest of the group. They needed to do their thing. She was pushed into her chair and watched as Hitch started the foundation.  
  
“I’m kinda glad Ymir’s here.” Hitch smirked. “Marco’s gonna pop a vein with how hard he’s working himself. And he’s only had one cup of coffee today! She’s the only one in the world that can calm him down.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Mhm.” Hitch suddenly sighed. “Fuck you, Krista. Your skin’s flawless, you lucky little shit.”  
  
Krista gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”  
  
“Nah. I like it.” Hitch put the brush down and grabbed some eyeliner. “It makes my job easier.”  
  
Krista laughed.  
  
Hitch stopped and gave her a look.  
  
“Sorry.” Krista put on a neutral face.  
  
“Good girl.”  


⁂

  
  
“And that’s a wrap!” Marco sighed and turned to Krista. “Thank you again, so much.”  
  
“It’s totally fine.” Krista smiled. “I’m just glad I can help.”  
  
Marco smiled back at her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were Ymir’s girlfriend?”  
  
“Oh. Well, I didn’t know you were the Marco she told me about until I was here for like thirty minutes.” Okay, so she stretched the truth a little. “So I kind of figured it would be a bit awkward if I just brought it up? Plus, I figure Ymir would want to tell you herself about the whole dating a girl thing. And you seemed… really busy with everything.”  
  
Marco chuckled and scratched his cheek. “I guess you’re right. And yeah, I am swamped. Now I have to fight with Google Translate for the rest of the week and I’ll be good.”  
  
Krista tilted her head. “Translate?”  
  
“French, since the form is for France.” Marco winced. “I’d ask Annie, since she was born in France, but she’s swamped with midterms and I just couldn’t bother her.”  
  
Krista smiled. “I speak French.”  
  
Marco blinked. “Fluently?”  
  
“Yeah. Well…” Krista’s smile turned wry. “It’s Quebec French, but that doesn’t really affect written text. If you need help, I could lend you a hand.”  
  
Marco’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Marco turned around. “Ymir! She’s an angel! She’s a goddess!”  
  
“No,” Ymir corrected, “She’s a fucking slut.”  
  
Krista burst into laughter. “Ymir!”  
  
Ymir just gave her a little wink.  
  
Marco smiled and turned back to Krista. “Thank you again, not just for the help, for modeling… for everything.”  
  
“It’s actually fun, I don’t mind. So, what happened to your last model? Could she not make it again?”  
  
“Well…” Marco bit his lip. “Actually, she just didn’t want to come. We fired her. We… technically have a spot available if you’re looking for a job.”  
  
Krista blinked. “Sure!”  
  
“Jackpot,” Marco whimpered. “Can I have a way to contact you or something?”  
  
Krista looked around and saw a pad of paper and a pencil on a small stand. She grabbed it and wrote several numbers down. “This is my cell, I always have it on me. Like, always. And here are my addresses.” She numbered the two addresses one and two. “The first one is my home, it’s near Levi’s place, but on weekends I’m at the second one. It’s technically my friends’ place, but they’re like family to me. I’ll pretty much always be at the second one unless I’m at Ymir’s.” She ripped the page and handed it to him.  
  
Marco took it and was clearly trying not to jump for joy. “Thank you, so much. This is awesome! You’re a life saver.”  
  
“You’re welcome.” Krista grinned.  


⁂

  
  
They had gone out for dinner that night, walked by a random restaurant and decided to go in. Their waiter kept hitting on both of them; and, like all lesbians must do, Krista decided to make it a game to see which girl the waiter would hit on more. Ymir wasn’t really into the idea of the game but after being called a total pansy by Krista four times, she eventually joined in—Ah, how easy manipulation was. Krista cackled as they took a long walk together.  
  
Ymir actually won the stupid game, to both of their surprise, but Krista was just proud of her amazing girlfriend for being amazing and she loved her and things were awesome.  
  
Their late night walk in the cold thin air of downtown’s quiet streets was nice. Krista held on to Ymir’s arm and hugged it until they eventually got back to Ymir’s apartment.  
  
“So, babe.”  
  
Krista ran a hand through her hair as she took off her heels. “Yeah?”  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me you met Marco?”  
  
Krista chuckled and kicked off her shoes. “I was going to.” She stepped into the kitchen and opened the fridge and grabbed the pitcher of water. “But, then…”  
  
Ymir stepped in after her. “Then?”  
  
“Well,” Krista chuckled. “That was the night you poured chocolate on your arm and told me to lick it off.”  
  
Ymir snorted. “Oops.”  
  
“Oops!” Krista jumped up and smooched her lips. “But, yeah. He’s really nice!”  
  
Ymir smiled and kissed her cheek. “Well I’m glad you’re getting along. Truth be told, Marco tends to disagree with everyone I’ve ever been with. Not that I was actually dating them, but I guess I had a track record of subs that happened to be assholes.”  
  
Krista raised a golden brow. “Really?”  
  
“Mhm.” Ymir turned the kettle on. “Want tea?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
Ymir grabbed her tins and began scooping some into a small bag. “Most of the guys I was with were assholes. I didn’t really care about them. So long as they followed my orders and cried when I wanted them to.”  
  
Krista paused. “What?”  
  
“Sorry.” Ymir chuckled. “I have a sadistic streak… Well, it comes out every now and then, I’m not like Mikasa, but yeah, I just like some heavy stuff. But that’s kinda behind me now… Sort of losing interest in that.”  
  
“In just the sadistic stuff or BDSM in all?”  
  
“The sadistic stuff.” Ymir poured the steaming water from the kettle into the teapot. “I don’t really know, babe.”  
  
“That’s okay.” Krista nodded.  


⁂

  
  
Several hours later, their lips were together. Krista’s hands roamed Ymir’s beautiful dark skin and she revelled at the feel of it. Ymir’s mouth was rough on her. It made her breathing hot and heavy and she felt a tingle between her thighs.  
  
Without thinking, Ymir shoved Krista down on the bed. “Shit… Sorry.”  
  
“It’s okay.” Krista took a deep breath. “I kinda liked it.”  
  
Ymir scratched the back of her head.  
  
Krista tried to read Ymir’s expression but it was hard in the dark. “What is it?”  
  
“Nothing…”  
  
“Ymir… You can dominate me.”  
  
“No… I can’t.”  
  
Krista pouted. “Why not?”  
  
“It’s just…” Ymir closed her eyes. “Subs are objects, Historia. They’re tools. They are something I own. I can’t! I just… I can’t. Not you. I care about you, but I just… I care about you. I can’t dominate you if I care about you. I just, I don’t know how!”  
  
Krista let the words ring in her ears before she smiled. “Marco and, Jean, they’re together, right? Like not just Dom and sub, but boyfriends?”  
  
“Yeah…”  
  
“They care about each other, right?”  
  
“Yeah.” Ymir frowned. “But, it’s just. I can’t. I can’t do this. I’m sorry, Hist’ I just can’t do this.”  
  
Krista smiled. She cupped Ymir’s face and leaned up for a kiss. “It’s okay.”  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be.” She kissed her again. “Please, take your time, okay?”  
  
Ymir sighed. “You’re too good to me, you know that?”  
  
“No such thing.” Krista kissed her forehead. “I love you.”  
  
Ymir paused and rolled over.  
  
Krista raised an eyebrow. Tightness, in her chest. “Ymir?”  
  
“Huh?” Ymir blinked. “Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind.”  
  
Krista rolled over to face her. “Like what?”  
  
“Just, a lot of things.” Ymir leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I love you too, Historia.”  
  
Krista moved up against Ymir’s side and traced a circle over Ymir’s stomach. “Just relax, okay?”  
  
“Okay.”


	12. 12: Moon (8) & Sun (8)

* * *

 

 

_**Moon (8)**_  
  
Her breathing was heavy as she took another step, then another, then again. Even with her ponytail, some loose blonde strands clung to her face, laced with sweat. She swallowed hard, throwing herself forward. She was doing her best to keep up, but she didn’t know how much longer she could do it.  
  
Armin slowed down and eventually came to a spot. He held his arms out and smiled. “Rain.”  
  
Krista heaved her breathing and looked up. She felt a drizzle and blinked. “There’s sun and rain at the same time.”  
  
Armin chuckled and scratched his nose. “Mhm. It’s always weird.”  
  
Krista straightened her back and let a cool breeze wash over her. “Kinda nice, though. It’s funny, we get a hundred and forty something days of sunshine out of three hundred thirty-six, but a good fifty of those sunny days have rain anyway.”  
  
Armin laughed and looked at her. “How are you keeping up?”  
  
“I’m not bad… It feels good to be running again, though.” Krista smiled at him. “I’m doing better every day, too!”  
  
“That’s true.” Armin grinned and looked up again. “I like running… Levi thinks I’m crazy. He’d rather curl up with blankets and say ‘Fuck you’ to the world, but I like going out and just running until my legs break. I don’t know why… Once, I actually ran so far I had to call him to drive over and pick me up.”  
  
Krista giggled as she looked at him. “I can’t say I like running _that_ much.”  
  
“Well it’s fun, that’s for sure.” Armin scratched his nose again and turned around. “We can take a break if you want. We’re at the halfway point.”  
  
“Oh.” Krista looked around. “Already, huh?” She smiled and looked at him. “Hey… Sort of random, but, if you had two names… one your family calls you and one your friends call you… What would your girlfriend call you?”  
  
Armin crossed his arms and thought about it. “Well…”  
  
“Sorry, boyfriend for you.”  
  
Armin chuckled. “It’s okay, I got what you meant. I guess it would depend on the names, wouldn’t it?”  
  
“Historia and Krista.”  
  
“Which one is your… Well, not real name, but legal name?”  
  
“Historia.”  
  
Armin smiled at her. “And Krista is your middle name?”  
  
“Krista, from Christine,” she explained.  
  
“Oh.” Armin nodded. “Makes sense. I guess I can see why you want to go with Krista. Historia is a little odd.”  
  
Krista only smiled. “That’s not half of it.”  
  
Armin raised an eyebrow. “Really?”  
  
“Historia Christine Elisabeth von ‘Til Reiss-Lenz.”  
  
“Wow.”  
  
Krista laughed, watching Armin blink. “Yeah.”  
  
“I’ll, uh, refrain from commenting…”  
  
Krista gave a mock pout. “But, what would your boyfriend call you? Krista, right?”  
  
“I guess, yeah. I mean, if that’s what your friends go with then it only makes sense, I guess.”  
  
“But…” Krista looked at her feet. “Ymir calls me Historia. I mean, I don’t mind it, it’s kind of nice, but I’m just kind of wondering… Why?”  
  
“Well…” Armin examined her for a moment. “Have you ever told her she couldn’t?”  
  
“Couldn’t what?”  
  
“Have you ever told Ymir she couldn’t call you Historia?”  
  
“Well, no.” Krista blinked. “Why would I?”  
  
“Well… maybe that’s why.” Armin shrugged. “Ymir’s a bit weird, but in a good way. If you want to know why she does something, sometimes she just does it because she can. She doesn’t always have big complex reasons. I’m not saying she’s simple. She’s the farthest thing from simple. She’s complex, but not all of her reasons are.”  
  
“Huh…”  
  
The two of them ran back until they came by the Reiss house. They both paused and Krista bit her lip. Knowing it was her last chance to bring it up (until tomorrow at least), she turned to Armin and hugged her arm. “Hey… Ymir has, well, she has trouble dominating me. I mean, she wants to, I think she wants to, but it’s like she hits a speed bump or a road block every time.”  
  
Armin stared at her for a full minute before he smiled. “I… I mean, Ymir’s a hard person to read. I’ve known her for a long time, and she’s a great friend… She actually protected me from my older brother a couple times, who I uh well, I don’t talk to him anymore, but in some ways I think Ymir’s like my older sister…” He made a face. “Sorry. I went off topic, but I mean… I’ve known Ymir for a while, and we’re really close, but I have no idea what she’s thinking half the time.”  
  
Krista laughed.  
  
Armin blinked. “What?”  
  
“Oh, nothing, it’s just… I always figured I would eventually get to know her better, and I have, but even now I just have no idea what’s going through her mind.”  
  
Armin grinned. “You might never know.”  
  
“I’m sure it would have been interesting though…” Krista pouted.  
  
Armin laughed and gave a nod. “Yeah. That’s for sure. But, Levi seems to know her a lot better. They’ve known each other for like seven years.”  
  
“Seven years?”  
  
“When Ymir got into BDSM, she was eighteen, and apparently met Levi pretty early on.” Armin shrugged. “But yeah, they’re close… and in just a few ways they’re remarkably similar. He said that Ymir might just need time adjusting.”  
  
“I know that,” Krista sighed. “I just want her to adjust faster!”  
  
Armin snorted and covered his nose.  
  
Krista smiled. “I’m kidding, mostly.”  
  
“I know. I know. It’s hard being patient, isn’t it?”  
  
“Oh yeah.” Krista eyed him. “Were you eager when you started with Levi?”  
  
“Hell to the yes,” Armin breathed. “I had been staying with him and his subs for a while before I got into it with him. So it was like… I don’t know. I knew they were having sex all around me, and Levi is fucking hot, okay? I wanted to go down on him so bad.”  
  
Krista chuckled and crossed her arms. “You little slut.”  
  
“Mhm.” Armin did not deny it. “Can you blame me, though?”  
  
“Nope!”  
  
“Thought so.”  
  
They shared a laugh and Krista offered another smile. “See you tomorrow?”  
  
Armin gave a silly salute. “Yes ma’am.”  
  
Krista grinned and gave a small wave. “Bye!”  
  
“Bye!”  
  


⁂

  
  
When Krista stepped in, she was about to pull off the band holding her hair in a ponytail when she heard voices from the kitchen. Father must have been at work, so it only meant one thing. She took off her runners, forgetting about her hair, and stepped in to the kitchen. She was greeted with a smile from one of the neighbours and a look from her mother.  
  
“There you are.” Her mother sighed. “Where did you go?”  
  
“Out for a run.” She offered a smile and saw her mom relax. It was almost like she had been worried. She opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, chugging half of it quickly. “Hello Misses Grein; I’d hug you, but I’m all sweaty.”  
  
She only smiled. “That’s fine. Isn’t there a boy around your age that runs?”  
  
“Yeah.” Krista nodded. “We run together. I don’t know him too well, but I wanted to get more routine exercise and I figured I could run with him. He’s a really nice guy.”  
  
Her mother nodded. “That’s good.”  
  
Mrs. Grein glanced to Krista. “So are you and the boy going to go out?”  
  
The fuck was this? High school?  
  
Krista offered a practiced smile. “I’m actually with someone right now.”  
  
“Oh that’s right. Tell us about your girlfriend!”  
  
Krista knew whatever she was about to say would be laced through the gossip cartels of the neighbourhood. “She’s tall, dark, and beautiful for one.”  
  
Both ladies laughed. Her mother smiled and sipped her coffee. “Is she studying something? Attending a university or college?”  
  
“No.” Krista drank from her water bottle. “She’s a bit like me, actually. Trying to find out what she wants to do. It’s nice… It’s like I have someone to relate to.”  
  
Mrs. Grein smiled softly. “When I was your age, given this is a good forty years ago, there weren’t as many options for young women. I don’t know how kids today decide.”  
  
Her mother nodded, an actual nod of understanding, and graced Krista with a real smile. “I have to agree. Take as much time as you need, honey.”  
  
“So, is she around your age?”  
  
Krista took another swing of cold water. “Actually no. She’s older. Twenty-five, actually.”  
  
“Wow.” Her mother blinked.  
  
Ms. Grein seemed equally as surprised. “That’s quite the age gap. You’re still eighteen, right?”  
  
“Nineteen soon,” Krista offered. “But, yeah, it was weird at first. I think both of us were against it at first because there was the seven year age gap.” That was a lie: Krista was so down to go down on Ymir the first second they saw each other. She never even considered that there was seven years between them. Seven years. She paused. Ymir got into BDSM seven years ago, when she was eighteen. Krista realised she was getting into BDSM the same year Ymir was. That made her smile. “But, um, yeah. She’s just a good person, and we get along a lot better than anyone else I’ve been interested in. She’s funny… a bit sardonic at times, but funny, and just a good person.”  
  
Her mother stared at her before smiling. “That’s good. I’m happy for you.”  
  
Krista paused.  
  
Her mother meant it.  
  
Actually.  
  
Krista swallowed hard and sipped more water.  
  
Ms. Grein was smiling as well. “To be honest, Historia… From my own experiences, and maybe your mother disagrees, I wouldn’t trust any eighteen year old boy, or girl, with your heart.”  
  
Her mother laughed. “Amen to that.”  
  
Krista grinned. “Yeah. She’s really mature, and it’s really different and nice… Anyway, I really have to take a shower. I’ll be back in ten!”  
  


⁂

  
  
After drying herself off and slipping on some clothes, Krista jumped as her phone went off. She grabbed it and glanced at the caller I.D. that said Connie Springer. “Oh shit.” She slid her thumb across the screen and brought the phone to her ear. “Connie!”  
  
 _“Hey Krista!”_  
  
“Hey…”  
  
 _“Are you coming tonight?”_  
  
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry… I totally forgot, I’m heading to Ymir’s actually. I’m sorry, I’ll cancel with her and--”  
  
 _“Hell no! It’s totally okay, K.”_  
  
“But I keep blowing you guys off. It’s totally not okay.”  
  
 _“It is!”_ Connie laughed at the other end. _“Honestly, Krista… Sasha and I both see it. You’re so much happier, actually happier, with Ymir… You smile a lot, pretend things are fine, but Krista… We’re happy that you’re spending time with her okay? We can tell it’s good for you.”_  
  
Krista paused and looked at her curled toes. “Is it that obvious?”  
  
 _“Krista. We’re happy for you, okay?”_  
  
“Thanks.” Krista grinned. “Connie, honestly, thanks for everything. I mean that.”  
  
 _“Shush! Don’t get mushy with me, Krista! You can’t cancel plans then get me all mushy feely, okay?”_  
  
The thought of Connie getting ‘mushy feely’ on the other end made Krista burst into laughter. “I’m sorry. I’ll make you guys that amazing roast next week, okay?”  
  
 _“Hell yeah! I’m telling Sasha!”_  
  
Krista giggled. “It’ll be good!”  
  


⁂

  
  
**_Sun (8)_**  
  
“Yeah, we have a couple fruity black teas!” Mina jumped up and turned around. She grabbed several large tins and put them on the long wooden counter. She opened up the tops and pushed them forward. “If you’re looking for more berries, I really suggest this blueberry black tea.” Her hands moved to another tin. “This one is more of a fruit punch, with all natural flavours, and this one has some mango and blackberries.” She glanced out of the corner of her eye.  
  
Ymir gave her a nod with a smile.  
  
Mina silently took a deep breath. “This one? Sure. Would you like it as a latte?”  
  
Ymir glanced around the store. It was a bit of a boring week, but that was always a good thing. She watched Mina handle the cashier before the customer left happy.  
  
“Have a good day!”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “Damn, you’re getting the hang of it.”  
  
“I’m pretty sure it’s because I did theatre in high school. I know how to pretend to know what I’m doing.”  
  
Ymir snorted. “No, you actually know what you’re doing. You’ve only worked here a week and you’re good.”  
  
Mina blushed a bit. “You think so?”  
  
“Yeah!”  
  
Mina backed away. “That was loud.”  
  
“Sorry…” Ymir rubbed her head. “Shit, it’s already been a week you’ve been working here?”  
  
“Yep.”  
  
“Man, time is flying by…” She checked her phone, no messages.  
  
Mina tilted her head. “Is that a bad thing?” She didn’t get an answer so she smiled. “You’ve been pretty stressed lately.”  
  
Ymir looked up. “You can tell?”  
  
Mina was about to speak when she glanced to the next customer.  
  
“Everyone can.”  
  
Ymir turned around.  
  
Annie was in her usual leather jacket and jeans. Speaking of jeans, Jean was behind her and offered a little wave.  
  
Ymir smiled. “You two should stop dicking around and actually work, you know?”  
  
Annie smiled. “We’re on our lunch break.”  
  
Jean leaned on the counter. “Marco’s going to join us, and actually relax for a bit. Wanna come?”  
  
Ymir shook her head. “Nah.”  
  
Mina smiled. “You can go, you know.”  
  
Ymir looked at her. “You sure?”  
  
“I can hold the fort, I think.” Mina’s smile became lopsided. “If you’re not gone for too long.”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “I’ll be quick.” She glanced at Annie and Jean. “Alright, let’s go.”  
  


⁂

  
  
“I love this place,” Marco said with a smile.  
  
It was still in the big shopping center, but a lounge-style restaurant secluded on the south side.  
  
“It’s good when there are no kids,” Ymir muttered. She crossed her legs and glanced at the menu. “I’ll just have a cappuccino or something. I don’t want to be here too long.”  
  
Annie glanced sidelong at her. “Was that a new girl?”  
  
“Yeah. She’s really sweet.” Ymir flipped the page to the drink section. “Mina used to work at the bar Krista sang at, I got her a better job. She’s just so bright and positive and happy to be out of that piece of shit job, it’s kind of nice though, all her positivity I mean.”  
  
Jean looked up. “You can order a small salad or something.”  
  
“Ew, salad.” Ymir made a face. “But maybe an appetizer or something. I’m having an early dinner with Historia, so we can have some chocolate fun tonight.” She chuckled.  
  
Annie turned to her. “Historia?”  
  
“Yeah. My girlfriend.” Ymir offered a smile. “I told you about her.”  
  
“Um… Krista?”  
  
“Oh. Right. Yeah, she has two names. I meant Krista.”  
  
Annie raised an eyebrow. “She has two names? Hyphenated or middle name?”  
  
Jean smirked. “Marie.”  
  
Annie’s leg cut through the air under the table and slammed into Jean’s knee.  
  
“Ow!” Jean screeched. “Sorry! I’m sorry!”  
  
Annie glared. “You should be.”  
  
Marco blinked. “What did he say?”  
  
“Nothing,” Annie said firmly.  
  
Jean snickered. “Annie’s got two names.”  
  
Annie’s ice blue eyes froze Jean in place. “Shut the fuck up.”  
  
“Okay, okay!”  
  
Marco chuckled. “I didn’t know you had two names.”  
  
Annie groaned and looked at the menu. She stopped and turned to Ymir. “Why are you so quiet?”  
  
Ymir realised she had been staring and she looked away. She crossed her legs under the table. “Krista doesn’t get mad when I call her Historia, but… I’m wondering maybe she just doesn’t like it but she’s not telling me.”  
  
Annie smiled. “If someone doesn’t like a name, they will tell you. That’s a universal truth.”  
  
Marco examined Ymir for a moment. “You could just ask her.”  
  
Jean shrugged. “He has a point.”  
  
“Maybe.” Ymir looked at him. “So, how was Europe?”  
  
“Fun!” Marco smiled wide. “I had my own translator, and he was so frickin’ cute!”  
  
Jean smirked. “Really? Did you get with him?”  
  
“No, he had a wife and kids.” Marco pouted, then smiled. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate his looks from afar. I really wish I had more time to see the rest of France, but I managed to see some of the cool stuff in Paris. I really want to go back. But, oh! I saw the Archway thing of Triumph and Stars? Or whatever it was called.”  
  
Annie looked up and the French flowed off her tongue with ease: “ _Arc de Triomphe_.”  
  
Marco looked at her. “Uh, but it had something about stars, right?”  
  
“ _Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile_ is it’s full name.” Annie nodded. “ _Étoile_ means star, but people just say _Arc de Triomphe_.”  
  
“That’s the one!” Marco grinned. “It was gorgeous! And it stands in the center of this huge open space!”  
  
“ _Place Charles de Gaulle_ ,” Annie added. “It’s at the western end of the _Champs-Élysées_.”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow. “Looks like we got an expert here.”  
  
Annie glanced at the menu. “It’s one of the big tourist attractions. It’s just an archway in the middle of a… Ugh. What’s the English word… It’s _round-point_ in French. Big circle people drive cars on.”  
  
Ymir kept her eyebrow raised. “Huh?”  
  
“Like a traffic circle?” Jean offered.  
  
“Roundabout,” Marco said.  
  
“Yeah.” Annie sighed. “Roundabout. Except it’s a big one, and it’s busy, and it’s got this archway in the centre that is gorgeous at night.”  
  
“Wow.” Ymir chuckled. “I didn’t know we had a France expert here.”  
  
Annie shrugged. “I was born there.”  
  
Ymir blinked. “Really? Say something in French!”  
  
Annie spared her a look before looking back to the menu. “Can one of you call the waiter?”  
  
Marco and Jean chuckled.  
  
Ymir pouted. “Oh, hey, Marco. Hist—Krista said she helped you out with that thing, right?”  
  
“Oh she’s an angel.” Marco breathed happily. “But yeah, she helped translate the whole thing. I’m so lucky.”  
  
Ymir nodded. “That’s great.”  
  
A waiter eventually came to their table and they ordered. Ymir ordered a cappuccino and a small shrimp cocktail starter. The rest ordered actual meals. She felt her phone beep and her eyes widened when she got a text message the size of France. She scrolled through it and read it slowly. She bit her lip hard enough that it would bruise and almost flinched when she felt Annie’s hand on her shoulder. “Shit.” She turned to her. “Hey.”  
  
Annie examined her for a moment. “Everything okay?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah… yeah.” Ymir put her phone down. “Text from my sis. About my cousin.”  
  
Marco perked up. “Bertl?”  
  
Ymir looked at him and nodded.  
  
Marco swallowed hard. “He’s not… He didn’t… die, did he?”  
  
“No!” Ymir knocked on the wooden table. “Sheesh, don’t say things like that!”  
  
“Sorry!” Marco wiggled. “You just didn’t say what you were upset about.”  
  
“I’m not upset… Well, maybe. He’s getting posted in the middle of nowhere and he probably won’t be able to keep in contact with us. I mean it’s bad enough we rarely talked, but I probably missed my chance to talk to him for a few months.”  
  
Annie looked between them. “Posted?”  
  
“Posted. Military.” Ymir looked at her. “Posted? Stationed? Deployed? Anyway, he’s a medical officer… Well, a junior medical officer, sort of. They brushed off some pre-req’s on that stuff for him.”  
  
“Wait,” Jean interjected. “The military cuts pre-req’s on medical officers?”  
  
“He’s a special case,” Marco explained.  
  
“Yeah…” Ymir’s lips made a thin line. “Bertolt’s kinda… This guy’s smart. Like fucking smart. Put Levi, Erwin, and Armin all together and they can’t hold a candle to this guy, I’m serious.”  
  
Annie raised a brow.  
  
“He graduated high school two years early, and ended up getting perfect scores on seven out of eight of his provincial exams. With the AP program on top of the IB program, he managed to finish first year university before he even got there and he got so many scholarships and grants and he was like a prodigy of fucking everything.” Ymir looked down and made a face. “The thing with Bertl, though… He was two years younger than the rest of his class; and, I mean, that doesn’t really matter to us now, but in high school that was pretty much a one-way ticket to having no friends. On top of it, he was super quiet. His parents are assholes too, so he spent most of his time with Ilse and I. He even has his own room with us.”  
  
Jean tilted his head. “He sounds like a machine.”  
  
“No…” Ymir frowned. “He’s the most human thing I’ve ever seen. He wants to be a doctor, he wants to help people, but he figured… Ilse and I would both go to university, and we would probably have to dig into our parents’ pockets to pay for it. Not that we’re greedy or weren’t willing to work, but that’s how our parents are. They value education and they would pay us to go to school. Bertl knew they would do the same thing for him, and he counted the thousands, and I mean thousands of dollars’ worth of scholarships and realised it wouldn’t cover the cost of a medical degree.”  
  
Annie nodded. “Med school tuition is like thirteen thousand, not including text books and all that.”  
  
“That’s all?” Jean turned to her. “Well, okay, that’s a fucking lot, but I thought it was higher?”  
  
“You need a degree before you can apply to med school,” Annie explained. “So that’s thirteen thousand dollars _after_ your undergrad, and masters for some.”  
  
“Shit.” Jean leaned back. “Okay, that’s a lot. I mean it was already a lot, but now it’s a lot more than a lot.”  
  
Marco gave a forced smile. “Yeah.”  
  
Ymir nodded slowly. “So Bertl figured he couldn’t do that to my parents because he’s a selfless piece of shit…” Her voice trailed off as the waiter came back.  
  
The waiter smiled as he put down two things. “One shrimp cocktail and a cappuccino.”  
  
“Sweet,” Ymir nodded in thanks and shoved one in her mouth. “So he found out the best thing he could do was go in the military in the medical officer training program thing. So he should be an officer-in-training, but he’s so fucking brilliant they made him a junior officer even if he doesn’t have a medical degree, yet.”  
  
“Sorry,” Annie interrupted, “The officer training isn’t the same as a degree is it?”  
  
“No.” Ymir shook her head. “Sorry, he went into the military because they pay for post-secondary schooling. For regular people they pay for any college degree or diploma, for officers or officers in training they pay for universities. So… I think for medical officers it’s like, um, for every two months you serve, they pay for one month of school or something? And since medical degrees, with four months of summer off, are four years, he has to serve something like five years and four months? I think? I don’t know. I have it written down at home.”  
  
“That’s pretty good.” Annie brushed some hair out of her eyes. “But I get why you’re nervous, military and all.”  
  
“That’s not the problem,” Ymir grumbled as she munched on another shrimp. “He’s being posted somewhere an officer-in-training should not be, but because he’s this prodigy that they made an exception for he’s putting himself in danger. It’s like those movies, okay? It’s like it’s his last few months and he’s going to be home soon but they send him somewhere off! What if he gets shot?”  
  
Marco frowned. “Ymir. He joined the military. That risk is real even if he wasn’t posted there.”  
  
Ymir sighed. “But he’s my baby Bertl!”  
  
“He’s a year older than you!”  
  
“But he’s my baby Bertl!”  
  
“He’s taller than you!”  
  
“Shut up, Marco!”  
  
“Sorry…” Annie interrupted again. “He’s a year older than you, finished his undergrad, and he’s almost served for five and a half years?”  
  
Ymir sighed, taking a sip of her cappuccino. “He’s got an I.Q. of something ridiculous. He wouldn’t tell me, but the guys who did the tests on him were jumping for joy. I wish he told me.”  
  
Marco smiled. “You said you would get a cake and put his I.Q. number on it.”  
  
“Oh, right. That’s probably why.” Ymir smiled as well before looking down at her phone. “He graduated high school two years early like I said, then he only took two and a half years to finish his undergrad. He didn’t take summer off, so he took like… seventeen courses a year or something crazy… It was scary. He was always studying. He wouldn’t go out, and he was always tired, and he wouldn’t eat much either. But he was so… obsessed with the sciences, and he loved it. He loved it so much.” Ymir’s smile faltered for half a second. “His parents were kind of bible-thumpers… Well they weren’t even Christian, but very spiritual and very sort of… Like religious but without wanting to think for themselves? I’m not saying all religious people are bad, or anything, but you know the extremist bad ones I’m talking about? ‘Reject all science and let the gods decide what happens to our sick child’ kind.”  
  
Jean nodded. “Like my parents.”  
  
“No,” Marco corrected. “Your parents aren’t a quarter as bad.”  
  
Jean raised an eyebrow. “Really?”  
  
Ymir nodded. “Yeah, so Bert kind of went crazy for a while and just wanted to learn everything about everything. It was also kind of scary because he just flipped and just hated anyone who had any religion ever… Which, like, okay I don’t like it when you put your religion in my face, but if someone’s just happy to believe and keep it to themselves, what do I care, right? Well anyway, Bert had a year or two he wanted to burn everything… But, um…” He looked around the table. “What am I even talking about?”  
  
Marco chuckled. “Anyway, so Bert finished his undergrad in two and a half years…”  
  
“Right!” Ymir nodded. “So he actually got his undergrad while kids his age were starting their first year. And yeah, after taking half a year off to figure out what he was going to do, he realised he couldn’t pay for medical school and he went to the military. Flash forward five years, here we are.” She grabbed her last shrimp and dipped it in the sauce. “Ilse’s a PhD archeologist ahead of her time, my cousin is set for life with the military, and I’m… Ah whatever.” She munched on her shrimp.  
  
Jean tilted his head. “You know what I think?”  
  
“Eh?” Ymir said with her mouth full.  
  
“I think…” Jean smiled. “If he’s got no friends, whenever he gets here, you should introduce him to us.”  
  
Ymir swallowed and gave a nod. “Yeah. He’s going to start school again when he gets back… I’m going to try to convince him not to do it right away, and not to fucking take seven courses a term again. I don’t know, this whole thing is just stressing me out. This is exactly what I need. More stress. I’m already dealing with Historia right now, and she’s stressing me out. If I get any more stressed I’m going to snap at someone.”  
  
Marco looked up. “Issues with Historia?”  
  
“Krista,” Ymir corrected herself. “Eh, not much… She just wants me to Dom her, and it’s weird because I like, like her?”  
  
Jean laughed louder than he should have.  
  
Ymir frowned. “What?”  
  
“Nothing.” Jean grinned. “Just, look who’s the Tender Dom now.”  
  
Ymir’s eyes narrowed on him.   
  
“Oh.” Annie turned to her. “Your coworker said you were stressed… Didn’t you say you weren’t going to leave her for long?”  
  
“Shit!” Ymir bolted up. “I’m a fucking genius!” She yanked her wallet out, threw a twenty on the table, chugged her cappuccino, and bolted out of the restaurant, arms flailing. “I’m coming, Mina Carolina!”


	13. 13: Sun (9) & Moon (9)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the end. Enjoy~!

* * *

 

 

 _ **Sun (9)**_  
  
“W-Wait! Where do you think you’re going?”  
  
Ymir chuckled louder than she should have. She ran a hand through her thick hair and scratched the back of her head. “Just heading to the ladies room, for hopefully obvious reasons, okay?”  
  
Mina glared at her. “Come back quickly.”  
  
“I’m sorry!” Ymir stifled her giggle with a hand. “Come on, don’t hold that against me! That was like a year ago I left you on your own.”  
  
“No it wasn’t!” Mina pouted. “That was four days ago! Four days ago!”  
  
Ymir sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Okay, okay, _so_ it was like three or four days ago, but that doesn’t mean anything or anything, you know? You held the fort while I was gone and you did just fine.”  
  
Mina sighed. “But I don’t know what I’m doing, Ymir.”  
  
“The hell are you talking about?” Ymir laughed and glanced to see a customer walk in. She looked back at Mina. “Listen, tuts, you know what you’re doing, okay?”  
  
Mina put on her commercial smile and glanced at the customer. “Hello.” She grabbed a small shot glass and moved towards a hot tank. She pushed down on the filter and a warm brown liquid poured into the glass. “Have a sample of our red rooibos.”  
  
“Thank you.” The customer smiled and smelled it. “Oh this is nice. What is a… Roy, bus?”  
  
“Rooibos.” Mina chuckled. “Roy and then ‘Bis’, like biscuit. It’s a herb from Africa, actually. They’ve been making tea out of it for years. It’s not caffeinated but it has a really nice flavour to it, doesn’t it?”  
  
The customer sipped it and nodded. “Oh this is nice. Can I have a cup of this?”  
  
“Sure thing.”  
  
Ymir moved and grabbed the tin of the red rooibos.  
  
“Were you looking for just a hot cup or a latte?”  
  
The customer blinked. “You can make a latte out of this?”  
  
Mina nodded. “We can make a latte out of anything that doesn’t have hibiscus, because the pH of hibiscus doesn’t go well with milk.”  
  
“Then sure.”  
  
“What kind of milk would you like? We have two-percent, one-percent, skim, soy, almond, rice, pretty much everything.”  
  
“Skim please.”  
  
Ymir smiled and opened the fridge beneath the counter. She poured the milk in a little cup and put it back in. She steamed the milk as Mina got to work in steeping the beverage.  
  
“We also have a special,” Mina spoke up. “If you buy a latte you can get one of these tea-infused chocolates for fifty cents, after tax, so it comes to an even five dollars in total.”  
  
The customer quickly glanced at the chocolates and chose one.  
  
It didn’t take long for Mina to put the latte together, take the blue slip of paper and give a receipt.  
  
“See?” Ymir said when the customer walked out. “You’re just fine. Was that so hard?”  
  
“No.” Mina sighed.  
  
“Good, ‘cause I really need to piss, Mina.”  
  
“Okay, okay.” Mina chuckled. “Just hurry back, okay?”  
  
“I will. I will.”  


⁂

  
  
Another couple hours passed and she finally closed the store. She didn’t mind the drizzle as she walked down the street. She sighed and stretched, making a small noise as she did. She took a deep breath and relaxed. “Long day,” she muttered. “It’s finally over, though.”  
  
Her phone went off.  
  
She pulled it out and brought it to her ear. “Yello’.”  
  
 _“Green!”_  
  
Ymir snorted. “Apparently I’m dating the lamest girl in the world. Hey bitch, what’s up?”  
  
 _“Nothing much—and I am not that lame, Ymir!”_  
  
“Sure thing, Historia.”  
  
 _“I was wondering if I could come over.”_  
  
“Duh.” Ymir smiled. “When?”  
  
 _“Um. Now?”_  
  
Ymir chuckled. “Still moving fast, huh?”  
  
 _“That’s me. So?”_  
  
“So?”  
  
 _“Can I come over, you dork?”_  
  
“Oh!” Ymir snickered. “Right. Um… Well I’m not home right now, I was gonna head to the grocery store. You can totally crash my place, though. You still have my other spare?”  
  
 _“Yep!”_  
  
“Sweet. Crash away. I’ll be there in maybe half an hour?”  
  
 _“Alright! Awesome!”_  
  
Ymir smiled. There were few things cuter than an excited Historia. “I’ll talk to you soon, later.”  
  
 _“Bye!”_  
  
Ymir hung up and shoved her phone back in her pocket. She turned the corner and headed over to the store in question. She walked up to the automatic doors and they parted for her. She felt a breeze of cold air as she walked in and looked around. She pursed her lips and grabbed one of the green mesh baskets. Her eyes scanned the side wall, checking the specials and she raised an eyebrow.  
  
Cakes were on special.  
  
Ymir turned and headed to the bakery section. She glanced into the display glass and wasn’t that surprised to see most of them gone. The day had mostly passed and there was a sale. Her eyes caught one cake.  
  
It was a four-inch cake, circular, with a white exterior and raspberries on top. The sign read: White and dark chocolate raspberry cake.  
  
“Oh sweet Jesus, there _is_ a god out there.” Ymir looked up and pursed her lips as she tried to find a worker to make eye contact with.  
  
“Ymir.”  
  
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “Hey freckled shit, what’s up?”  
  
Marco snickered and hugged her tight.  
  
Ymir wrapped one arm around his waist and squeezed him closer. “Hmm. What’re you doing here?”  
  
Marco pulled away and shrugged. “Nothing big. I’m just here with Jean, getting some food for dinner. You?”  
  
“Same.” Ymir turned back to the display glass. “Cakes are on special.”  
  
“Oh. Are they?” Marco stood next to her and leaned in. “Oh that one looks good, white and dark chocolate.”  
  
“That one is mine, thank you,” Ymir huffed. “There’s one left and whose is it?”  
  
“Yours.” Marco rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll probably go for something bigger, anyway.”  
  
Ymir waved over one of the workers and pointed to the cake. “The white dark raspberry one, that one.”  
  
The worker nodded and leaned down to pull it out from the back. “Do you want anything written on it?”  
  
“Happy Birthday,” Ymir replied.  
  
The worker nodded and turned around.  
  
Marco blinked. “It’s not your birthday.”  
  
“No it’s not.”  
  
“Is it Krista’s?”  
  
“Nope.” Ymir shrugged. “I just want to start a rebellion against the system.”  
  
Marco snorted. “Geez, Ymir. Why don’t you come over tonight?”  
  
“You want my cake that bad?”  
  
“No!”  
  
Ymir chuckled. “Nah, Historia… I mean, fuck, Krista, Krista’s coming over tonight. I haven’t seen her in a couple of days.”  
  
“Oh no!” Jean popped out of nowhere and ignored the way both of them rolled their eyes at him. “I haven’t seen my girlfriend in a couple days! What will a Tender Dom like me do without my poor sweet little sub?”  
  
Ymir frowned.  
  
Marco closed his eyes.  
  
Jean screamed as a foot shot into his throat and he was thrown on the ground.  
  
Ymir quickly resumed her standing position, pretending nothing happened. “Why are you with him again?”  
  
Marco smiled. “I just like him.”  
  
“And… why?”  
  
“Because…” Marco shrugged.  
  
Jean stood up and dusted himself off. “Ouch!”  
  
The worker came back with a box and handed it to Ymir.  
  
Ymir took it carefully. “Thanks.” She put it in her basket and shook her head. “Anyway, I’ll see you two around, ‘kay?”  
  
Marco nodded. “Okay.”  
  
Jean rubbed his throat and muttered something.  


⁂

  
  
Ymir ended up buying a bunch of veggies for a stir fry since those were pretty hard to screw up. She turned the handle of her door, not surprised to find it unlocked, and stepped in her apartment. She kicked her shoes off, noticing how neatly Historia’s heels were placed on the side. She chuckled and walked over to the kitchen. She shoved everything in the fridge, taking her time, before she closed the door. “Yo!”  
  
No response.  
  
She pulled off her leather jacket and put it over one of the high stool chairs of the island counter. She was left in a purple tank top and dark blue jeans. She ran a hand through her hair and weaved out some knots. “Historia?”  
  
Again, no response.  
  
Ymir put a hand on her hip and pursed her lip. “Fucking idiot probably fell asleep or somethin’,” she grumbled. Moving into the hall, she walked towards her room and pushed the door open. “Histor…”  
  
Krista was sitting in her bed, nude, arms tied behind her back with light brown ropes, ankles tied together with the same material. Her skin was smooth and she turned to face Ymir, arching her neck to expose it, blonde hair sliding off her face. “Hey.”  
  
“Hi.”  
  
Krista gave a knowing smile.  
  
“Okay.” Ymir backed away. “The fuck? I thought I told you last time. I just, okay. The fuck is this?”  
  
“I’m not asking you to do anything,” Krista pointed out. “I’m just on display. That’s all. I’m not pressuring you, I’m not asking you to do anything.”  
  
Ymir breathed in slowly and walked over to the bed. She turned and sat on the edge. Glancing at her girl, all tied up, she didn’t know how to feel. “You shouldn’t… I mean, you look nice, but… What? Why? I just, I…” She took in a long breath and shook her head. “You look nice. You do.”  
  
Krista nodded politely. “Thank you, Ma’am.”  
  
Ymir felt something hot flash inside her and she felt tingles in the back of her knees. “I’ve always been the kind of Dom that prefers chains to ropes.”  
  
“You can always change them, if you want.”  
  
Ymir swallowed hard and considered it. She sighed and shook her head. “I want to do this… I do, but, damnit Historia. I can’t, okay? I just, this isn’t—I mean what am I…? Why? I just…” She shook her head. “Look. This needs to stop. I just, I can’t do this.”  
  
Krista sighed. “Ymir. You’re not even trying.”  
  
Ymir blinked and turned to her. “What?”  
  
Krista shook her head. “Try.”  
  
“Try?” Ymir frowned. “Just, I can’t do this. Alright?”  
  
“Why? Why not? Talk to me.”  
  
“No, fuck you.” Ymir stood up and sighed. She walked out of the room. She heard Krista struggle with the ropes behind her but she ignored it. Ymir stepped into the kitchen again and frowned.  
  
Krista, shuffling her clothes on, came into the room after her and sighed. “Ymir. Talk.”  
  
“No. I don’t want to!” Ymir turned around and faced her. “Look. You just can’t ask me to just, to just… I don’t know how!”  
  
“How to _what_ , Ymir?” Krista frowned. “Talk, damnit!”  
  
“I don’t know how to talk!” Ymir shouted. “I don’t _talk_ about my feelings, Krista! I don’t talk about how I feel! I don’t talk about how I’m so fucking worried about you—whether I’m pissing you off—whether it’s okay for me to call you Historia. I don’t talk about those things! That’s not who I am, okay?!”  
  
Krista paused, letting the words soak in her mind. She sighed, eyes relaxing, expression softening. “Ymir.”  
  
“No. Just, just shut up!”  
  
Krista blinked. “Ymir…”  
  
“Shut the fuck up!” Ymir’s hands turned into fists and she pushed them against her forehead. “Everything was fucking simple before you came along, okay? Everything was just fine and dandy and I was happy and I didn’t need to put up with anyone’s bullshit, and not yours. I didn’t have to date some fucking kid, a girl no less, and deal with this bullshit of, of, of—you!”  
  
Krista said nothing.  
  
“You came into my life and complicated it.” Ymir glared daggers at her. “Just—J-Just, get out! Get out of my house and get out of my life!”  
  
“Ymir…”  
  
“Out!” She pointed at the door. “Get the fuck out!”  
  
Krista blinked twice, eyes watering as she shook her head, too confused for words.  
  
Ymir felt her chest squeeze in on itself.  
  
“Okay.” Krista forced a smile. “Okay, I’m going. I’m going and I won’t fucking come back if that’s what you want, you stupid piece of shit!” She huffed angrily. “I’ve been so fucking patient with you! I’ve been good to you! You stupid, selfish, piece of crap I hate you! I get it… I understand… You’re confused, and things are changing… I know it can be scary, but _I’m on your side,_ Ymir!”  
  
Ymir’s eyes widened.  
  
“Fuck it.” Krista shrugged. “Fuck it, and fuck you!”  


⁂

  
  
Ymir ignored the angry message from Mina reminding her she was late for work. She ignored the message from Mina saying she was still not there. She ignored the message from Mina asking if everything was okay. She ignored the message from Mina asking if she wanted someone to talk to.  
  
She didn’t want to talk.  
  
Ymir Langnar did not talk.  
  
Back against the bed, Ymir stared up at the ceiling.  
  
Four hours had passed since she kicked Krista out. It was a Friday. That would mean they would usually go to the bar together. Krista would usually sing, and Ymir would watch with a feral smile quipped on her lips.  
  
But she was on her bed, back against the bed, staring at the ceiling.  
  
Four hours ago, Krista was on the bed. Ymir snarled. She could still smell the faint smell of roses. Krista, Historia, whoever she was, _that_ girl always smelled like flowers.  
  
Ymir smelled like cinnamon. She liked the smell of cinnamon. It broke the sugar out of anything, making every pastry that much better. It was a spice that was brown, but it reminded her of red fire. It was energy. It gave life to something dull.  
  
Krista smelled like roses. Also red, red but velvety and soft, and gentle on the nose. Sweet in some ways, sugary.  
  
The more she closed her eyes, the more she could smell the cinnamon bring the sugar out of the roses.  
  
It made her sick.  
  
Ymir got out of bed and grunted. She walked down the hall and was about to head into the den when her home phone went off. She paused, heart skipping a beat, and walked over. She checked the caller I.D. and sighed, sighed out disappointment, but also sighing out of relief. She hit the green button and closed her eyes. She brought the phone to her ear and took a small breath. “Hey Levi.”  
  
 _“Hello.”_  
  
Ymir was almost glad Levi didn’t sound happy. The last thing she needed was other people to be happy when she wasn’t. “What’s up?”  
  
 _“Armin and I were discussing it, and we want to invite you over for dinner.”_  
  
“Me?” She frowned. “Why me? What did I do? You need more tea or something?”  
  
 _“No. Well, yes, but we’ll leave your work at your workplace. We were actually thinking about inviting you and Krista over for dinner, together.”_  
  
“Together,” Ymir practically spat the word out. “We’re not together anymore, thanks.”  
  
 _“You’re not?”_  
  
“No. No we’re not.” Ymir rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”  
  
 _“Ymir.”_  
  
“What? The fuck do you want, Levi?”  
  
 _“You’re upset.”_  
  
“Yeah!” Ymir didn’t know why she shouted, but she couldn’t help it; the blood in her veins boiled and her anger pounded in her heartbeat. “Yes, yes I’m fucking upset! Wow, should I call you Levi ‘Sherlock’ Rivaille?”  
  
 _“What happened?”_  
  
“Nothing!”  
  
 _“Then why are you upset?”_  
  
“Because I’m always upset!” Ymir slammed her fist against the kitchen counter. “I’m always upset! And I’m tired of being upset! I’m tired of being upset and I’m tired of caring and I don’t care anymore!”  
  
 _“You’re upset because you care.”_  
  
Ymir paused and her jaw twitched.  
  
 _“You fucking idiot, Ymir.”_  
  
“Shut the fuck up!” Her hand squeezed the phone and she cursed loudly. “Fuck you and fuck Armin and fuck Historia and fuck everything! I’m done with everything in my life being a God damn variable!”  
  
 _“If you would just learn to talk it out instead of being a savage…”_  
  
Ymir smashed her thumb on the red button, ending the call, and threw her phone on the couch. “Fuck!”  


⁂

  
  
 _ **Moon (9)**_  
  
Krista had gone back, back home. She drove across the bridge, ignoring the dim street lights that peered in through her car windows. She sighed, loudly, lacing her breath with her anger as her red eyes kept on the road in front of her. But like all roads did, it ended; she parked her car in front of her house. Not her home, not her place of safety and vestige, but her house. The place she had to return to. She shifted the gears, switching it over to park and she opened the door.  
  
Krista turned off the engine.  
  
Silently, she stayed where she was and took a deep breath.  
  
The silence…  
  
She stepped out, yanking out her purse, yanking out everything that was hers, before she locked the doors and walked away.  
  
Krista walked up the steps and; for once in her life, she was thankful her parents didn’t care enough to say hi to her when she came home. She kicked off her heels, not giving two flying cunts of chaos where they landed, and walked up the stairs. She threw herself in her room and landed on her bed. She stared at the ceiling, swallowing hard. Something inside her was growing; it was burning, it hurt, but it was necessary. She didn’t know what it was, and at the same time she did.  


⁂

  
  
She didn’t know how many hours passed, but eventually she couldn’t take it anymore.  
  
She was driving again.  
  
Her car glided across the red bridge that separated her from the city. She flicked her turn signal and turned. She kept going forward, slowing down as she approached townhouses. She parked in front of their house and got out. In the night’s thin cold air, she was suffocating. She forced herself up every step of the small stairs leading to their place before she opened. She rang the doorbell, hearing the annoying yet homely and comforting chime of that fucking bell before the door opened.  
  
“Krista!” Connie grinned, but his grin faltered, then faded, then twisted. “Krista?”  
  
Krista took a deep breath and shook her head. “No, I’m not okay. Can I just… can I crash here?”  
  
“Of course.” Connie smiled and opened the door. “Come on in, okay?”  


⁂

  
  
She was thankful.  
  
Krista was thankful they didn’t ask. Krista was thankful they didn’t have to ask. Krista was thankful they never asked. Krista didn’t know what she was going to do if they asked.  
  
She was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.  
  
The clean ivory sheets were like a second epidermis to her, a second skin. A mottled, discarded skin? She clasped her hands over her eyes and shook her head. It had been so long since she had stayed the night… She had come over quite a bit in the past two months, but she rarely spent the night. The sheets, clean, ivory, almost antiseptic, didn’t smell like her. The room didn’t smell like roses, like home.  
  
Krista looked around the rather empty room.  
  
How could this bare room, this guest room, ever have been a home for her?  
  
How desperate was she?  
  
Krista breathed, and found breathing took more effort. Probably more effort than it was worth. Her skin felt hot; she felt blotchy. She smoothed the white skirt she was wearing and grabbed the blue cardigan she had thrown off before. She wrapped it around herself and shivered.  
  
She could hear talking.  
  
“You can’t!” Sasha shouted, but there was laughter in her voice. “She’ll get food poisoning if you give it to her!”  
  
Krista blinked.  
  
“It’s still good!” Connie insisted. “Just add a bit more milk!”  
  
“No, it’s ruined!” Sasha cried. “You ruined food, Connie! You ruined everything!”  
  
Krista felt something spill out of her throat, and her eyes widened when she realised it was laughter. Those two… That was why this place was home for her. They were such a good couple, good to each other, and good to her. They always made her laugh. Krista shook her head and slipped off the bed. Her bare feet moved against the carpet and she opened the door, peering into the kitchen.  
  
Connie was trying to pour something from a pot into three cups, and Sasha was flailing around.  
  
“I’ll drink it,” Krista spoke up.  
  
Sasha looked up and literally jumped. “Krista.”  
  
Connie smiled. “See? She wants my hot chocolate!”  
  
“You burnt it!” Sasha’s eyes turned feral. “You burned hot chocolate! Hot, chocolate! Why am I with you?”  
  
“The burn is good,” Connie insisted. “It gives it a bit of a barbecue flavour!”  
  
Sasha’s jaw dropped and her body convulsed to perform a scream; but, right before she did, she stopped. “That actually sounds kind of nice. We can make some fries, have barbecue hot chocolate and French fries.” She started salivating and walked over to the fridge.  
  
Connie burst into snickers and giggles, and soon Sasha joined him.  
  
Krista smiled from the doorway and crossed her arms. “You two are so weird…”  
  
Connie and Sasha both turned to look at her, as if they had completely forgotten she was there, before nodding as if they totally remembered she was there.  
  
Krista chuckled and ran a hand through her hair.  
  
Sasha walked over to her and pulled her in a hug.  
  
Krista smiled and nuzzled into her neck, sighing happily. “Thank you.”  
  
Sasha nodded against her. “Um…” She backed away a bit and bit her lip. “How are you…? I mean, I know, like I get it if you don’t want to talk about it, but…”  
  
“I… don’t want to talk…” Krista felt her throat squeeze.  
  
That was what Ymir told her, after all.  
  
Krista suddenly felt sick. “Maybe I do… I don’t know.”  
  
“Food,” Sasha whispered. “You need food.”  
  
Connie sighed. “That doesn’t solve every problem, Sasha!”  
  
Sasha turned around and gave him the finger.  
  
Connie burst into loud laughter.  
  
Krista smiled wide. “I actually haven’t eaten… I went over to Ymir’s for dinner, then…”  
  
Sasha just nodded. “Go rest, and when the fries are done we’ll give you some hot cocoa and we can talk about it then, okay?”  
  
Krista relaxed and moved some hair out of her eyes. “You’re the best.”  
  
“I know. I know.”  


⁂

  
  
As promised, a pile of fries seemed to appear out of nowhere. Krista was sitting on the couch, Sasha on one side, Connie on the other. They gave her some space, but she didn’t mind the proximity. She, along with the other two, ate half the pile and drank the ‘barbecue hot chocolate’… which, to be fair, was exactly as Sasha described it. It went well with the fries.  
  
“So…” Connie pursed his lips. “What happened?”  
  
“It…” Krista sighed. “It came out nowhere. She just, flipped like a switch, and I just… I don’t know.”  
  
“Did something bring it on, though?” Connie tilted his head.  
  
“Um, well… okay, yeah, but, uh, well, um…” Krista fumbled with her words before sighing. “Okay, you two promise not to judge me?”  
  
Connie and Sasha just gave her matching faces that said ‘Really?’.  
  
Krista laughed. “Okay, well, see… Ymir is into this like, Dominance and submission thing. Which is like, B.D.S.M. stuff. Which is like freaky sex, except it’s not freaky, it’s actually kind of… Well it’s uh, oh God I have no idea how to explain it!”  
  
Connie smirked. “Okay, so some kinky stuff, huh? I’ve seen videos online, you know.”  
  
“Those aren’t really accurate,” Sasha added. “B.D.S.M. is like lesbians, the porn on the internet is so far from the real thing.”  
  
Krista made a face. “Sweet Jesus on a unicycle, lesbian porn is not made for lesbians! Ugh.”  
  
Sasha rolled her eyes. “It’s all for dudes.”  
  
Krista nodded. “The way they just start slapping each other, and—oh God—the nails! Why would you ever finger yourself with those nails?”  
  
Sasha grinned and Connie laughed.  
  
Krista looked between them. “What?”  
  
Connie offered his hand to Krista like a lady would to a prince. “Look at _these_ nails.”  
  
Krista took his hand. Connie’s nails were short, trimmed, and smooth. She blinked. “Wow, these are prettier than my nails.”  
  
Sasha cackled. “When I told him the long nails in lesbian porn must hurt, he had a manicure to make sure he never hurts me with his nails.”  
  
Krista looked at Connie. “Seriously? That’s so sweet!”  
  
Connie chuckled, a little nervously, and the faintest of pink coloured his cheeks. “Yeah. All I knew about sex was from porn before I met Sasha, to be honest. So when I heard that, I looked at my nails… And they weren’t bad or anything, but I was like maybe I can make them smoother? And so now I get a manicure once a month to make sure they’re smooth.”  
  
Sasha offered her hands. “His are prettier than mine.”  
  
“Oh my God,” Krista laughed and then compared her own nails. “Wow, you’re the princess here, Connie.”  
  
“Aww, shucks.” Connie chuckled.  
  
Krista let go of their hands and put her hands on her lap. “Anyway…”  
  
“Right.” Connie nodded.  
  
Sasha adjusted herself in her seat to face her.  
  
“So… basically, in D.s. there’s… Oh, sorry, D.s. is short for Dominance and submission. And um, it’s sort of like this thing where the sub basically gives themself over to the Top.”  
  
“Dom,” Sasha corrected. “A Top goes with a bottom, Dom goes with sub, Master goes with slave.”  
  
They both looked at her.  
  
Sasha cleared her throat. “Go on.”  
  
“Right.” Krista looked back at Connie. “So it’s like, there are a lot of things about safety and consent, but yeah the sub willingly gives herself over to the Dom. And she’s very… Well, at first, I didn’t know about any of that, but when we got in bed together, she was very Dom-ish. And I realised I really, _really_ liked it, because… Holy shit, it was nice. And so I guess after I found out she was into this stuff, it was like… I don’t know.”  
  
Connie nodded. “So… I don’t really get it. What is D.s.?”  
  
“I don’t know.” Krista dropped her head in her hands.  
  
“It’s complicated.” Sasha shrugged. “It’s basically… The Dom is the one in control, and the sub follows their orders. You can play in like scenes, or some people do it for a lifestyle. It’s sort of this control dynamic, that makes sex fun. The submissive willingly gives him or herself over, meaning all body, mind, and spirit, and basically does his or her best to serve the Dom to the fullest.”  
  
Connie nodded. “Okay. So like, okay. I think I get it.”  
  
“Yeah.” Krista nodded. She turned to Sasha. “How do you know all this?”  
  
Sasha gave another little shrug. “Anyway, so about Ymir…”  
  
“Right.” Krista nodded. “I’ve been trying to get her to Dom me, but she keeps saying she cares too much about me to Dom me, which I mean… I don’t know. I’m trying to be understanding, but I just… I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”  
  
Sasha shoved another French fry in her mouth and chewed and swallowed. “Well, Ymir’s not used to emotions when she practices D.s., it’s just about tying up some guy who’s willing and humiliating them for her.”  
  
“Yeah, she told me that,” Krista sighed.  
  
Connie tilted his head. “Hey, Sash-Stash… When did you meet Krista’s girlfriend?”  
  
Sasha’s eyes lit up and her shoulders spiked up. “Well, uh, you know…”  
  
Krista turned to her. “You know Ymir?”  
  
“I don’t _know_ Ymir,” Sasha admitted, “But I know of Ymir.”  
  
Connie and Krista just stared.  
  
“Okay, okay.” Sasha sighed. “I dabbled into D.s. for a while, and then I stopped when I realised it wasn’t for me. A couple Doms have a reputation. Mikasa, Ymir, everybody in that community knows who they are. All I know is Ymir’s a good person, but she’s just really rough with her subs… Um, I mean…” Sasha took a deep breath. “Ymir is well… I don’t know. I don’t know her that well. If you want to figure out what to do, maybe you should talk to someone who _does_ know her well.”  
  
Krista sighed and sipped her hot chocolate. She put the mug down on the table and shook her head. “I don’t know, Sash’… A part of me is okay with giving up. A part of me thinks, if Ymir really wants me in her life then she’ll come for me…”  
  
Connie pursed his lips. “But is she the type of person to do that?”  
  
Krista closed her eyes and shrugged. She pulled her knees up and hugged them, before shoving her head against her legs. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”


	14. 14: Eclipse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Psst. Chapter title. Next chapter is the last one.

* * *

 

Levi grabbed the home phone and moved through the contacts to find ‘Ymir Langnar – Home’. He hit the green button and listened to the boring ring. It didn’t take long before a voice replaced it.  
  
 _“Hey Levi.”_  
  
Levi pursed his lips. Ymir sounded more than a little tired. “Hello.”  
  
 _“What’s up?”_  
  
“Armin and I were discussing it, and we want to invite you over for dinner.”  
  
 _“Me?”_ A small pause. _”Why me? What did I do? You need more tea or something?”_  
  
“No.” Levi thought about it. “Well, yes, but we’ll leave your work at your workplace. We were actually thinking about inviting you and Krista over for dinner, together.”  
  
 _“Together,”_ Ymir practically spat the word out. _“We’re not together anymore, thanks.”_  
  
Levi felt his fingers twitch. “You’re not?”  
  
 _“No. No we’re not.”_ The words dripped with venom. _“I don’t want to talk about it.”_  
  
“Ymir.”  
  
 _“What? The fuck do you want, Levi?”_  
  
“You’re upset.”  
  
 _“Yeah!”_ she shouted.  
  
Levi moved his head away from the phone and closed his eyes before he put the phone back to his ear.  
  
 _“Yes, yes I’m fucking upset! Wow, should I call you Levi ‘Sherlock’ Rivaille?”_  
  
Levi sighed. “What happened?”  
  
 _“Nothing!”_  
  
He rolled his eyes. “Then why are you upset?”  
  
 _“Because I’m always upset!”_ There was the sound of something being slammed on the other end. _“I’m always upset! And I’m tired of being upset! I’m tired of being upset and I’m tired of caring and I don’t care anymore!”_  
  
Levi pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re upset _because_ you care.”  
  
 _That_ got her to be quiet.  
  
Levi let out another sigh and shook his head again. “You fucking idiot, Ymir.”  
  
 _“Shut the fuck up! Fuck you and fuck Armin and fuck Historia and fuck everything! I’m done with everything in my life being a God damn variable!”_  
  
“If you would just learn to talk it out instead of being a savage…”  
  
The line went dead and several beeping rings replaced the conversation.  
  
Levi hit the off button on his home phone and stared at it. He took in a large, silent breath, before letting it out of his nose. He put the black phone on its charger and heard the small beep, and watched the green light flick on to say it was charging. He stared at the phone, looking at it as if it had some kind of answer, some kind of answer he wanted, needed.  
  
Perhaps selfishly, perhaps selflessly.  
  
But he wanted an answer.  
  
Levi’s steel-blue eyes shifted to the side, glancing out the glass sliding door that led to the backyard. He saw the pool and the barbecue set, and the patio table that needed to be dusted. It was all dark, but he could see it. He turned quickly, looking at the green digital clock on the oven. It was only seven, but the sky was darker.  
  
Levi frowned, pursing his lips and chewing on the inside of his cheek. He heard footsteps approach him from behind, but he paid it no mind.  
  
“Did you ask about Krista’s allergies?”  
  
Levi sighed.  
  
“Master?”  
  
“Sorry.” Levi looked behind him. “Did you say something?”  
  
Armin pretended to pout, but he chuckled. “I asked if you had asked about Krista, and if she had any allergies I should be aware of when I make her dinner.”  
  
“No.”  
  
Armin waited for something else, but nothing came. He tilted his head. “Levi, Master?”  
  
Levi took in a quick breath. “Ymir says they’ve separated. Krista and her. They’re no longer together.”  
  
“No longer together?” Armin blinked twice, but he smiled. “Well, that’s okay. It’s normal to fight. I’m sure things will work out.”  
  
“You sound confident,” Levi noted.  
  
Armin tensed. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?”  
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
“Um… Was it bad? When you talked to Ymir about it?”  
  
Levi sighed. “Yes. I think so. I don’t fucking know for sure, but yeah. It sounded pretty bad.”  
  
Armin’s shoulders came together. “How bad?”  
  
“Fifty Shades of Grey bad.”  
  
Armin blinked. “What?”  
  
“I know you liked that book, I have no fucking idea why but—”  
  
“–No,” Armin interjected. “Sorry, I just… I uh… They broke up?”  
  
“You make it sound like you’re the one that’s heart broken. You are attached to the idea of them being together.”  
  
It wasn’t a question, but Armin shook his head. “It’s not that…”  
  
Levi walked over to him. “Speak.”  
  
Armin jumped up.  
  
Levi silently chuckled, gracing Armin with a small smile to calm him. “Kitten.” He pushed up the bottom of Armin’s chin so they could make contact. “Please speak.”  
  
“It’s just, I went running with Krista this morning. They were together and happy.”  
  
“Hmm.”  
  
Armin tilted his head. “Master…”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“It’s just,” Armin took a deep breath, “It’s just that I like Krista and I think she’s good for Ymir. She has a big heart, she knows right from wrong, but she’s funny and sweet. You would never think someone that looks like an angel like her would have a temper, but she’s a bit hard-headed. And, it’s just that, Ymir’s… such an angry piece of shit. She won’t listen to anyone. You know how she is. But, I think maybe she’ll listen to someone as hard-headed as she is. I think, I think if there’s some time in her life Ymir will need to listen to someone else… What I’m trying to say is that Krista’s the only person who can get through to Ymir, I think at least. That’s why I want them to be together.”  
  
Levi listened and his eyes softened. “Hmm.”  
  
“Shit.” Armin sighed. “I just, I don’t think Krista realises how important she is to Ymir.”  
  
Levi cocked his head. “You’re worried.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Then.” Levi kissed his cheek. “Leave it to me, alright?”  
  
Armin blinked. “Huh?”  
  
“I’ll think of something, Armin. Don’t worry.”  
  
“Oh… okay…”  
  
Levi let an amused smile form on his lips. “Have some faith in me. I need it.”  
  
Armin actually chuckled. “As if you need my approval.”  
  
“A bit of moral support doesn’t hurt, though.”  
  
Armin grinned and nodded. “Okay. I trust you.”  
  
“Great. You take care of dinner for two.”  
  
Armin knew Levi was just trying to give him something to do so he wouldn’t worry, and he appreciated it. He slipped away and grabbed some pots and pans.  
  
Levi stepped out of the kitchen and grabbed his cell phone. He scrolled through his contacts until he found the person he was looking for. He hit call and put the phone to his ear. He heard the ringing and pursed his lips.  
  
 _“Hi!”_  
  
“Hey Marco–”  
  
 _“You’ve reached Marco, but I’m not here right now. Please leave me your name and number, and I’ll call you—”_  
  
“Fuck you,” Levi cursed at the answering machine. He hit the red button and called again. When the same cheerful _“Hi!”_ came on, he hit red and redialled.  
  
 _“H-Hello?”_  
  
“Marco.”  
  
 _“H-Hey Levi, Jean and I are sort of a bit, you know, busy…”_  
  
Levi closed his eyes and sighed. “It’s urgent.”  
  
 _“Jean, one sec, he says it’s urgent. Sorry, what is it?”_  
  
“Get dressed.” Levi walked to the coffee table and picked up his keys and wallet. “I need two things from you.”  
  
 _“O-Okay.”_  
  
Levi heard some shuffling, which he assumed was clothes, and he was thankful. “Krista Reiss gave you her contact information, right? Her addresses. Two. I remember overhearing some of it.”  
  
 _“Krista? Uh, yeah. She’s got two addresses. One is like down the street from you, and the other’s over the bridge, here in downtown. She spends the week with her parents and weekends at her friends. Oh, she said if you need her you can always ask Ymir.”_  
  
“I can’t do that right now. One sec.” He grabbed his coat and wrangled it on before putting the phone back to his ear. “I’ll explain everything later. I need her address, the one in downtown. Now.”  
  
 _“Sure! Oh… uh, wait, am I legally allowed to give you her personal information, because I really don’t think as an employer I can—”_  
  
“Marco. Now.”  
  
 _“Y-Yes Sir! Sorry, Sir…”_  


⁂

  
  
Levi found himself calming down behind the wheel. Not that driving was a calm activity, far from, it was just that he was actually getting somewhere. With the address, and the other thing he asked Marco to do, the phone call ended quickly. His black car drove along the four-laned red bridge that separated North Crescent from downtown. He sighed and tapped his fingers along the smooth steering wheel.  
  
It was dark out, and the yellow street lights peered into his car, flashing light and shadows over him.  
  
Levi focused on the road.  
  
Or he tried.  
  
His mind went back to when Ymir was sitting in his living room, with Erwin, Annie, Hanji, and Armin. He felt something tight in his knuckles and he ignored it. His mind went back to when Krista sat in the exact same seat. He felt the tightness urge him on but he somewhat respected the speed limit.  
  
“Turn left, at the end of the road.”  
  
Levi glanced to his phone, which had been hoisted up on his dashboard and was being used as a GPS.  
  
He flicked his turn signal when he got to the end of the bridge and took a sharp turn. He kept moving until his phone told him he was ‘nearing his destination’. He slowed down and glanced at the houses. They were small townhouses. They were quaint. Cute. Levi actually liked them, and he was a picky little shit. He noticed a car he had seen before in North Crescent, and assumed it was Krista’s. He parked behind it and grabbed his phone before he got out of his car.  
  
Levi stepped out into the cold night air and swallowed hard.  
  
He locked the doors of the car and walked up the short couple of steps. He checked the address and nodded before he rang the doorbell and heard it chime inside.  
  
It took a second or two, but the door opened.  
  
There was a man, a young man, roughly Krista’s age, with a shaved head. “Hey.”  
  
“Hello, sorry to bother you…” Levi realised he had nothing prepared to say, but that didn’t matter. “Is Krista here?”  
  
The guy blinked. “Uh, yeah. She is…”  
  
Levi furrowed his brows. “How is she?”  
  
“She’s…” He shrugged. “Upset.”  
  
Levi nodded slowly. “I figured she would be.”  
  
“Hey, so, uh…” The guy tilted his head. “Who are you?”  
  
“Sorry.” He offered his hand. “I’m Levi, a friend of Ymir’s.”  
  
“Oh.” The guy took his hand. “Connie.”  
  
Levi nodded before sighing. “I know I’m a stranger. But, please… May I come in? I want to help.”  
  
Connie seemed a bit apprehensive but he sighed. “Okay. Come in.”  
  
“Thank you.” Levi stepped in; noticing shoes on the side, he took his shoes off and followed Connie. He took a look around, not surprised that it was a messy, filthy place. Actually it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t a mess, but it was ‘lived in’. There were two stacks of pop cans, which Levi tried not to make a face at.  
  
Connie walked up to a door and knocked on it. “Hey, K? Someone’s here to see you.”  
  
There was no reply.  
  
Connie looked back and pursed his lips.  
  
The door opened.  
  
Sasha stepped out, running a hand through her hair before she closed the door behind her. “She says she doesn’t want to see anyone.” Her eyes moved from Connie to—“Levi.”  
  
“Sasha?” Levi blinked.  
  
The two of them stared at each other, and Connie looked between the two of them back and forth.  
  
“I…” Levi began, “I suppose a hug would be pretending we’re closer than we are.”  
  
Sasha laughed, although it was laced with strain. “Yeah… Um. Hi.”  
  
“Hi.” Levi swallowed hard. “Small world.”  
  
“Yeah.” Sasha nodded twice. “Welcome to my humble a boat?”  
  
“Abode.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“It’s, ‘Welcome to my humble abode’.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
Levi felt his chest squeeze and he looked around. “I like your place, actually. It’s cute, cozy.”  
  
“Yeah.” Sasha chuckled. “Thank you.”  
  
“Except the cans,” Levi muttered.  
  
“We wash them!” Sasha said quickly. “Don’t worry!”  
  
“Oh.” Levi smiled. “I suppose I don’t mind them now.”  
  
Sasha relaxed a bit and smiled.  
  
Connie looked between the two of them. “Um? Hey…”  
  
“Oh.” Sasha glanced at him then motioned to Levi. “Connie, this is my brother.”  
  
Connie blinked. “Brother?”  
  
“Half-brother,” Levi added, “On our bastard of a father’s side.”  
  
“Whoa.” Connie scratched his nose. “That’s kind of cool. You never told me you had a brother.”  
  
“It was a recent discovery,” Levi explained. “Her father got a girl pregnant when they were fifteen and put me up for adoption.”  
  
“Oh.” Connie nodded. “So uh, wait, how old are you? Sorry. That’s pretty rude. I just meant like, if her dad was fifteen when they had you, that must be like…”  
  
“Thirty one.”  
  
“Oh, cool.”  
  
“Yeah.” Sasha nodded. “Exactly ten years older than me.”  
  
“Well, I’m Connie. Nice to meet you.”  
  
Levi nodded. “Likewise.”  
  
Sasha swallowed hard before she moved her arms behind her back, fumbling her hands together. “So I guess it’s kind of a rhetoric question… but why are you here?”  
  
Levi straightened his back. “Krista.”  
  
Sasha nodded. “Yeah.”  
  
Levi tilted his head. “You were expecting me?”  
  
“No, just, well when I saw you, I figured with Ymir and all.”  
  
Levi nodded. “Can I talk to her?”  
  
Sasha brought one hand forward and scratched her chin. “Um… Well she’s kind of upset right now. She doesn’t really want to talk to anyone, but if you can get her to want to talk to you, she’s all yours.”  
  
“Um,” Connie said in a low voice.  
  
Sasha looked at him.  
  
“I mean uh, I know he’s your brother but we uh… We can trust him, right.”  
  
“Yeah.” Sasha turned to Levi and nodded.  
  
Levi smiled softly. “Thank you.” Sasha and Connie moved to the side and he walked over to the door. He knocked lightly. “Krista… It’s Levi.”  
  
“Levi?”  
  
“May I come in?”  
  
Seconds drained into minutes as he waited for a reply.  
  
He almost gave up, but,  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Levi opened the door and closed it behind him. He took half a second to scan the small square room before his eyes fell on Krista, sitting on the bed, looking at her lap. Levi sighed and walked over. He turned and took a seat next to her, close, but not too close. They were still strangers after all. Levi glanced to her, examining the side of her face. From what he could see of her blue-green eyes, they were puffy and red.  
  
Krista swallowed hard and turned to him. “What are you doing here?” She smiled. “Not that I don’t like you being here, but… I mean, why?”  
  
“I’m…” Levi wondered how to word it. “I don’t really know. I guess, on some level, I’m just here to help.”  
  
“Help, huh?” Krista tilted her head. “What are you going to do?”  
  
“I thought we could talk… Well, perhaps we can talk, I planned to mostly tell you some things. But we can talk, about Ymir.”  
  
Krista nodded slowly. “Well, I guess I could talk, but, I don’t really know anything.”  
  
“Don’t be a shit.”  
  
Krista laughed and her shoulders shook a little.  
  
Levi smiled and looked down. He wondered what the best course of action would be. “I met Ymir… seven? Seven, six? I met her years ago. I’ve known her for that long… obviously. I liked her the moment I saw her, to be honest. She was a strong Dom who knew what she wanted, but she was willing to learn, which is the most important part. But what I liked the most about her was… I don’t know if there’s one right word to describe it, but it’s that flare she has.”  
  
The corner of Krista’s mouth curled upwards. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”  
  
“But there’s a lot more to her, I think.” Levi frowned. “A part of me doesn’t understand her, not at all, but… From what I do know, she smiles a lot, doesn’t she?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Most of those smiles aren’t real.”  
  
Krista looked at him.  
  
Levi knew she was trying to read his face, but he kept it neutral. “I guess, perhaps the best way is to just blurt it out. My theory is she’s destroying herself on the inside, constantly, with some kind of inner turmoil. Maybe that’s over dramatic, maybe it’s accurate… I don’t know. But there’s always this underlying feeling when I talk to her. She tries to hide, a lot. And she’s good at it. That’s the scary part. She’s someone who can hide it. With a cool exterior, and a warm smile, nobody would guess how she really feels about herself, and her life.”  
  
Krista looked at her lap.  
  
“Marco’s known her for far longer than I have. Twenty years. You can ask him; he knows. He’ll tell you: She’s fucked up in the head.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
Levi nodded.  
  
“It always feels like there’s… something wrong when I talk to her. I don’t know what it is, I never do, and it kind of scares me on some level.”  
  
Levi stared at his knees. “I have a theory. I don’t like theorising about other people’s pain. I don’t. But I have been wondering for so long what it really is. What’s really eating at her core.”  
  
“What’s your theory?”  
  
“I think… I think she’s never been able to love herself.”  
  
Krista stayed silent.  
  
Levi swallowed hard. “In fact, I doubt she loves anything at all. With the exception of Marco, everything is a steel wall for her. She saved Armin’s life once.”  
  
Krista looked up. “She did?”  
  
“It was by chance.” Levi nodded. “I don’t think Armin would appreciate me telling you this story, so this stays between us, alright?”  
  
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Lips are sealed.”  
  
“Right after Armin’s parents died in front of him, he lost it. He almost threw himself in a river. The same river his parents…” Levi felt his chest squeeze. “This was before I even knew him, but Ymir grabbed him and stopped him. I don’t know if you’ve seen Ymir and Armin talk to each other, but they’re good friends. They have something, it’s subtle, but they really do care for each other. I thought… I don’t know how to put it. In some ways, I felt like…” He sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure how to put it into words.”  
  
“Take your time.” She smiled a strained smile.  
  
“Well…” Levi swallowed hard. “Marco and Armin are the two closest things she has. And yet, talk to both of them, and they would both say the same thing. They don’t know anything about Ymir. It’s not because she’s hard to understand, it’s because she doesn’t let them in. Even with Armin and Marco, I… I honestly thought Ymir was a lost cause, and I knew one day I would hear that she either landed in some trouble or pushed everyone away. I figured she never had a chance for happiness as long as she kept up what she was doing. I thought she was a lost cause, until she sat in my living room, and talked about you.”  
  
Krista’s eyes widened. “Me?”  
  
“She told me about you.” Levi nodded. “Given, mostly because Armin had to explain your first meeting to me.”  
  
Krista laughed at the memory…  
  
“But, Krista.” Levi turned to her. “Ymir’s life… It’s shit. Before you, everything was shit for her. She’s lost. She’s lost and she hates herself, and she lives and breathes this hate, day in, day out. But you. You. I… I don’t know. I can’t say we discussed you at length, I can’t say I have the answers. I don’t. But, if that piece of shit is who I think she is, I really don’t think she’s cared about anything the way she cares about you.”  
  
“But,” Krista closed her eyes, “Why?” Her hands turned to fists. “If she cares about me, then why? Why did she throw me out? Why did she throw me away?”  
  
“I don’t know.” Levi closed his eyes as well. “And I bet you my entire property, she doesn’t either.”  
  
“But…”  
  
“But?”  
  
Krista’s eyes snapped open. “That’s not fair!”  
  
Levi looked at her. “No. Probably not.”  
  
“I’m…” Krista heaved a breath. “I’m angry.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
Levi gave an amused smile as he tilted his head. “Really?”  
  
Krista swallowed hard. “I know why.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“You know why.”  
  
“Say it.”  
  
Krista sighed. “I’m angry because… I gave up on her. She pushed me away, but even if she kicked me out… I can’t deny that I walked out on her too. I mean, yeah, it’s not my fault… But I didn’t fight to the end. I knew she wanted me to stay, but I left. I gave up on her.”  
  
“So.” Levi smiled. “What are you going to do?”  
  
Krista swallowed hard. “I need to talk to her. Now.”  
  
“Good.” Levi got up. “The rest is up to you.”  
  
Krista got up and grabbed her keys and wallet.  
  
“Krista,” he said in a warning tone. “You’re too emotional to drive right now.”  
  
“But!”  
  
“It’s alright. Breathe.” Levi raised a hand. “You need to think about what you’re going to say, anyway. I’ll give you a ride.”  
  
Krista took a deep breath and nodded. “Thank you.”  
  
“Like I said, the rest is up to you. Don’t thank me yet.”


	15. 15: Moon (10) & Sun (10)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, the final chapter. I apologise for taking so long, but here it is at last, the finale. Thank you everyone for the support through this. It was my first time writing yuri, and it's been a total blast. Thank you, all of you. 
> 
> On with the story~!

* * *

 

 

 _ **Moon (10)**_  
  
Krista stared out the window. She watched the endless streetlights pour their amber light in the car and disappear from her view at a steady rate. Her fingers on her left hand tapped at her skirt while her right hand gripped her seatbelt, wanting something to hold on to. Anything to hold on to. She took a shallow breath and let it out as slowly as she could. She glanced up to the moon hanging, perfectly fine, perfectly still, without a worry. She watched the moon hanging, completely aware of what turmoil was swirling inside her.  
  
The car turned left at the end of the road.  
  
Krista swallowed hard. She stared out the windshield and then glanced to the driver. “Thank you.”  
  
“Hm.” Levi shrugged as he kept his eyes on the road. What thoughts were inside his head, she did not know. “Don’t mention it. Just do what you have to do.”  
  
Krista let out a small, meek, half-forced, mangled chuckle.  
  
Levi pursed his lips.  
  
Krista closed her green-blue eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know what I can do. I don’t know if… if there is even anything I can do, ever. A part of me just feels… lost.”  
  
“And what does the other part of you feel?”  
  
“Motivated, I think.”  
  
“Then focus on that part.”  
  
Krista nodded. They were nearing their location. “You… you care about Ymir, a lot.”  
  
“Someone has to,” Levi muttered. “She barely cares about herself. I told you, she’s never cared for anyone the way she’s cared for you and she’ll let the whole fucking thing slip by if you let her.”  
  
Krista stared at him and nodded. “Thanks, again.”  
  
Levi pulled over and nudged to the sidewalk.  
  
Krista’s eyes widened. She opened the door and stepped out, cold wind hitting her hard in a breeze. “Hey… What are you doing here?”  
  
Marco was buried under three layers of coats as he walked down the steps of Ymir’s apartment. “Levi gave me a call.” He opened his hand and offered what was inside.  
  
Keys. Two of them, both silver, on a steel ring, with a bright blue lanyard.  
  
Krista smiled. She took the pair of keys and nodded. “Thank you.”  
  
“Nah, it’s no problem…” Marco’s eyes turned stern. “Krista.”  
  
She looked up. “Yeah?”  
  
“Whatever happens up there, just… be honest with her. Let it all out, okay? I know Ymir… she’ll…” Marco sighed. “She’s the biggest bitch you’ll ever have to deal with, but behind all those walls she’s built up, there’s someone who cares about you. Trust me.”  
  
Krista squeezed the pair of keys and nodded. “She’s such a bitch.”  
  
“Hell yeah.”  
  
Krista smiled and looked up. “But I love her.”  
  
“Good.” Marco grinned. “That’s all you need.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Marco turned to Levi’s car and gave a little wave.  
  
Levi just gave a small nod. “Go.”  
  


⁂

  
  
Krista’s chest was a black hole, squeezing in on itself, compressing time and space and all her feelings with it. She wasn’t sure if she was numb or if she was filled with acidic adrenaline. Every one of her nerves were fried and her hands couldn’t stop shaking. She used the buzzer to get up the elevator and watched the floor number go up, one by one, until the metal doors opened. She stepped out and took a right, walking down the carpeted hall until she saw Ymir’s door.  
  
She stopped.  
  
She froze.  
  
Krista took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She squeezed the keys in her hands and took a deep breath.  
  
“Come on Krista, come on…”  
  
She pushed the keys into the lock and twisted it. A click. She pulled the keys out and grabbed the door handle.  
  
A memory ran after her.  
  
A memory of her at the same spot, with a small suitcase of clothes.  
  
And Ymir opening the door, frantic because she had burned dinner.  
  
That evening they had brownie pancakes instead of actual food, and they had done other things that night as well.  
  
Krista shook her head, shaking the memory away as her hair followed the movement of her head.  
  
“Come on, Historia. You can do this.” She turned the handle of the door and opened it. She let herself in. She took off her shoes.  
  
“Marco?” a voice called out.  
  
Krista didn’t know what Ymir’s reaction would be, but she closed the door behind her and walked into the kitchen.  
  
Ymir was sitting on one of the stools by the island counter. Her legs were crossed. She had a mug of tea and a book open to the halfway point. She looked up, moved some hair out of her eyes, opened her mouth to speak, but paused no words came.  
  
Silence.  
  
Krista swallowed hard. All of her prayers and wishes swirled inside her, begging to be released in a single moment of light, but her eyes watered as she saw Ymir. “You…”  
  
Ymir blinked, expecting a reply. “Me?”  
  
“You… look like shit.”  
  
Ymir blinked again. “What?”  
  
“You look so tired.”  
  
“Thanks,” Ymir muttered. “You bitch.”  
  
Krista’s eyes softened and she fumbled her hands together.  
  
“How the fuck did you get in?—Not that… not that I don’t want you here, but…”  
  
“Marco gave me his keys.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Yeah…”  
  
“So… why are you here?”  
  
“Because… I…” Krista ran her hand through her blonde hair. It occurred to her that she had no idea what to say. She thought she would know what to say right when the moment came, but seeing Ymir so… dreadfully happy with her current position… “I came here, because… I know you’re… I know this isn’t easy, I know this is isn’t easy for you, at all. I know you’re probably going through a lot, and thinking about a lot, and wondering about a lot, I just… I said I would be here for you. I said I would be on your side. And yeah, you screamed at me, you yelled at me… but when you needed me, when you pushed me away because you didn’t know how to react, I—”  
  
“Stop.”  
  
Krista swallowed hard.  
  
Ymir slipped her bookmark in her novel and flipped the book closed. She grabbed her mug of tea and sipped it until there was nothing left. She put the mug down and shook her head. “The fuck is wrong with you? I didn’t kick you out of my life because I was afraid. I didn’t kick you out because I was any of that shit. I kicked you out because I wanted you out.”  
  
“Ymir.”  
  
“What?” Ymir tilted her head. “What can you say that you haven’t already said? What can you do that you haven’t already done? What secret do you have that can undo all this _fucking_ bullshit!?”  
  
Krista closed her eyes. “I’ve been… so happy with you.”  
  
“Great. Wonderful. Fuck off. Do you want me to show you the door?”  
  
Krista opened her eyes. “I know you’ve been happy with me, too.”  
  
Ymir didn’t reply.  
  
She shook her head. “Ymir. Sometimes things fall out of line, but you can’t deny you were happy with me. I mean, it’s been two months… and maybe two months isn’t that big of a time, but in these past two months I’ve spent more days with you than anyone else. My day to day was you, Ymir, my week to week, my hour to hour was you. These two months… I’ve seen so much of you, and there are things I understand about you. Not everything. But there are some things, no matter how small, that I understand about you. Like your smile.”  
  
“My smile?” Ymir got out of her chair and walked around the kitchen counter. “Historia.” She opened the fridge. “I don’t give a fuck.”  
  
“You smile sometimes, but you don’t always mean it.”  
  
Ymir reached for something, but paused.  
  
“I mean… it’s kind of common, everybody does it every day. We all fake a smile, fake a laugh, fake happiness, feign happiness because we don’t want to bring anyone else as down as we feel.”  
  
Ymir scrunched up her face.  
  
“But it made me think of something. I noticed, that I can tell the difference between all those smiles. I think, at least. And I noticed, the week I was staying here… your smile looked different: It looked… real, true, I don’t know the word for it, sincere maybe. And I realised, at that moment, that I loved your real smile… the smile you make that makes you look like a total snarky bitch!”  
  
Ymir laughed. She closed the fridge slowly and took a slow breath. “Look, Historia… Just because I smile a little different doesn’t mean anything. I don’t want a relationship, alright? Just…” Her hands turned into fists and she swiped her arm as she shouted, “Why won’t you get out of my life!?”  
  
“If you really wanted me gone, I would leave!” Krista shouted back. She clutched her shirt and frowned. “Don’t you get it? If I was bad for you… if I thought that I wasn’t capable of making you happy, the first thing I would do is drive so fucking far away you never have to see me again!”  
  
Ymir’s eyes widened as she took a step back.  
  
“Ymir… weeks ago, I had this thought, that maybe a month was too early… but with you, everything clicked. I fell in love with you. And you said you love me, and I loved you back. With you, I could… you… You were, my sanctuary, in some ways.”  
  
“Sanctuary?” Ymir frowned. “What the fuck does that even mean?”  
  
“It means, I didn’t have to hide!”  
  
“Hide!?”  
  
“Hide!” Krista leaned forward as she screamed, “Hide! Hiding! Hiding like you are! Holing yourself up in this place, kicking and screaming like a child at anyone who’s trying to help you! You’re hiding, Ymir!”  
  


⁂

  
  
 _ **Sun (10)**_  
  
Ymir stared at the blond in front of her. Nobody gave Historia the right to stand in her kitchen. Nobody gave Historia the right to barge in. Nobody gave her the right to spew out lies, or truths, or whatever it was. Ymir didn’t want to know. Ymir didn’t want to think about it. Ymir didn’t want to believe. Ymir didn’t want to talk about it.  
  
“You’re hiding, Ymir!”  
  
Rage boiled the blood in her veins and she took a deep breath, fighting back the urge to punch a wall. “Shut the fuck up!” her voice blasted the kitchen, making Krista visibly flinch. “So are you! You’re always fucking hiding yourself! You’re the one living two lives! You two-sided piece of shit! You pretend to be a sweet little fucknut for your parents then go sing at some bar like a three dollar hooker! You hide yourself all the fucking time!”  
  
“I do it because I have to, Ymir!”  
  
“So what?” Ymir stepped away. “How is that any different?”  
  
Krista stepped forward. “Don’t you understand anything?” The rage faded from her sweet blue-green eyes; it was only then Ymir could see the tears welling in her eyes. “Ymir… you… you gave me a place of refuge… For the first time in my life, with you, I could be myself… all of myself.” Krista placed both of her hands over her heart. “We can be ourselves with each other. Don’t you understand… just how, amazing that is?”  
  
Ymir took a deep breath through her nose.  
  
“There might be a chance, maybe, that I’m alone in this, but I don’t think so. I love you, Ymir.”  
  
Ymir shook her head, unsure where her anger came from or where it was going.  
  
“It’s okay. You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to. I know you have feelings for me, I honestly believe it.”  
  
Ymir squished her eyes closed. Both her hands ran through her hair, squeezing. “How the fuck can you be so content? How can you want to be with me when I can’t even… How? Why? Why would you throw your life away and… waste it on me?”  
  
Krista’s eyes widened before they softened. “Because… I’m happy with you! I’m free with you! I’m so utterly, liberated! I can feel my heart beat fast and just,” she grinned, “And just,” her eyes brimmed with tears too ready to fall, “I’m _me_ with you. I _can be me_ with you! I don’t have to have two lives with you, don’t have to run around with these two different sides of me! You bring out the best in me—I like myself better when I’m with you!”  
  
Ymir’s vision blurred.  
  
“You’ve helped me love myself. Not just Krista!” She closed her eyes and two tears fell. “But Historia… I used to… I used to even hate the name. I hated everything about Historia, and I didn’t realise it until I met you that I was hating myself. But now… I love myself, all of myself, all the pieces that make up who I am… and the reason… the reason I love myself? Because.” Krista laughed. “Because you gave me a place that I could be me.”  
  
“Historia…”  
  
“You were my sanctuary… _are_ my sanctuary. That’s why I love you. That’s all you ever have to do for me. Just let me be me… and no one else, but me.”  
  
“But…”  
  
“I love you.”  
  
Ymir closed her eyes and began breathing heavy. She shook her head and covered her face with her hands. “Why would you… why would you do that to yourself?”  
  
Krista blinked. “What do you mean?”  
  
Ymir moved her hands away and opened her eyes. Vision blurred from tears threatening to fall, she laughed even if there was nothing funny. “I’m… a failure.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and laughed again. “What kind of future do you think I have, Historia?”  
  
Krista’s eyes filled with blue worry. “What are you talking about?”  
  
“I get these… weird thoughts when I’m with you,” Ymir admitted. “And they scare the frickle frackle freckled _fuck_ out of me… Because I think about me, and you, and for the first time in my whole life I’m thinking about an ‘us’ and it’s weird and I’m… I think about next month, and how next month I want to be together. And the month after that? Same thing. And the month after that is the same thing, too. And when I think about it… it… I think about next year—I want us to be together.”  
  
Krista just listened.  
  
Ymir was thankful for that.  
  
She had no doubt Krista understood that Ymir Langnar didn’t talk.  
  
“I don’t…” Ymir continued, “I don’t get attached because I don’t know what kind of horrible person… what kind of suicidal, self-hating person would ever want to latch on to a piece of shit parasite like me? I…” She breathed heavily and the rage took her again: “I have no future!”  
  
Krista shook her head.  
  
“I have no future! I don’t… I can’t! I…” She choked on her own sob. “I’m not, I’m not a designer like Marco! I’m not a biologist like Mika or Annie! I’m not rich like Levi! I don’t have some kind of respectable status or get nationwide honoured awards for excellence like Hanji! I… I’m not Ilse, I’m not Bertl… I don’t have a cent to my name, and I don’t have anything to make up for it either. I’m not like Armin, I can’t cook or just… be good company… I can’t… I don’t have a personality like Jean… I’m not even as positive as Mina… Everyone in my life is better than me. And it makes me wonder! How? How can you like yourself better when you’re with me if I’m just a dead end rat!?”  
  
“Jesus,” Krista whispered.  
  
Ymir stared at her like an utter idiot.  
  
Krista closed her eyes and several more tears fell. The saddest smile formed on her lips and she tilted her head to the side. “Levi’s right… you really… you don’t love yourself.”  
  
Ymir looked down.  
  
Krista stepped forward. “I get it though… I understand exactly how you feel.”  
  
“How could you…?”  
  
Krista sighed. “I hated myself before I met you. Especially the fact that I did nothing all day. I had two friends, and I always felt like a parasite to them. I was… I was actually jealous of you, because you worked at a tea shop, and you knew so much! It was so cool listening to you go on and on, and to look at your tea collection. You had a job. You were doing something with your life.”  
  
Ymir stared into her blue-green eyes and felt her throat tighten.  
  
“Ymir… It sounds so stupid now, all of it. But I guess, as I learned to love myself… you learned to hate yourself.” Krista shook her head. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“No!” Ymir shook her head as well. “It wasn’t you, I was always… I’ve always been like this.”  
  
“I made it worse, didn’t I?”  
  
Ymir couldn’t deny it.  
  
“It’s okay. I understand. I love you, though.”  
  
“I, I love you too.”  
  
Krista grinned. “Good.” She clasped her hands together. “Then I need you to promise me something. I want you to promise and never go back on your word.”  
  
Ymir scratched her nose. “What’s that?”  
  
“Promise me, you’ll always be honest with me.” Krista smiled. “That way… that way, you could let me build you a place you can be you. That way, you could let me do everything you’ve done for me, and maybe even more.”  
  
Ymir’s rubbed her jaw as she thought about it. “Historia…”  
  
“Then…” Krista grinned. “Then we can love each other… and love ourselves. We were, two opposites, two sides of the same coin… as I got better, you got worse. Nobody’s to blame. But that’s over now. You don’t have to hide, you’ll be yourself. I don’t have to hide either, I’ll be myself. We can love each other, and ourselves, and we’ll be…”  
  
“One-sided.”  
  
Krista grinned. “Exactly.”  
  
Ymir raised an eyebrow and scratched her forehead. “But… I mean, do you really think, I mean, really? Do you really think, everything else is just going to… fall into place?”  
  
Krista made eye contact and just nodded. “More than anything, yeah.”  
  
“You’re… confident.”  
  
“Of course! How could I not be?” Krista took Ymir’s hands in hers and squeezed. “I know what it’s like to have a place to go to. Because of you, I know just how necessary of a thing it is, to have a place where you can be you, and you don’t have to be anyone but you. We’ll take everything in stride. Yeah?”  
  
“Yeah.” Ymir grabbed her and pulled her into her arms.  
  
Krista’s eyes widened, but she wrapped her arms around Ymir’s neck. “And I’m sorry… for pushing you, with that Dom and sub stuff. We can just forget about it.”  
  
“N-No…” Ymir shook her head. “If I have to be honest with you, I better start now. You’re a great sub.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“I just… you’re right, I was scared. I was really scared. I’m not used to having a meaningful relationship at all, and I’m really not used to having a meaningful relationship as the groundwork of that kind of relationship… I don’t know what to do.”  
  
Krista pulled away and smiled. “Then how about this? We’ll guide each other. Take one thing at a time, and learn as we go, together.”  
  
“That…” Ymir laughed. “You know… that… sounds really fucking nice.”  
  
“So.” Krista tilted her head and grinned. “You agree?”  
  
“Yeah. Let’s do it.” Ymir smiled, smiled her real smile. “Let’s be… completely transparent with each other, no more lies… just…”  
  
“Just us.” Krista nodded. “Just honesty.”  
  
Ymir closed her eyes and let the tears fall from the corners, but they were happy tears. “For the first time in my life… Shit, it must’ve been years since I’ve felt like this…”  
  
“Like what, Ymir?”  
  
“Like… I’m okay with myself. Like I’m not perfect, but that’s fine.”  
  
Krista pushed their lips together.  
  
Ymir smiled into the kiss before it broke. “Let’s do it. Let’s be, you know…”  
  
“One-sided.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


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